International Initiatives for Cooperation
| TITLE | The Address of Human Rights – Journalism |
| FOUNDING PROGRAM | 4.3 Combating racism, xenophobia and antisemitism (RXAS) |
| PERIOD | 2013/2015 Duration of the project 24 months |
| PARTNERS | Project Coordinators, NSII: Parters staff:Experts of journalism, National Institute for Social Integration journalist education programme experts , Experts of Fundamental Rights/anti-racism&xenophobia researchers. |
| OBJECTIVES | The aim of the project is to reduce racism and xenophobia by changing portrayal of socially vulnerable groups in media. Following goals will help to reach the aim of the project: 1. To establish a network for international cooperation among the organisations working with anti-racism and anti-xenophobia, journalists and institutions educating journalists. 2. To enable the journalists and editors of various media means as the ones shaping the public opinion to recognise hate provocation, stereotypes and learn of how to adequately react to them: neutralise, strengthen mutual understanding and raise awareness on racism and xenophobia. 3. To increase the capacity of the organisations working with potential victims of racism and xenophobia, as well as capabilities to collaborate with journalists. And thus to transfer the experience for potential victims of racism and xenophobia so to avoid stereotyping while representing themselves for media. 4. To initiate, coordinate and support the international journalistic campaign, which analyses the roots of intolerant attitudes and behaviour and promotes public consciousness. 5. To run media monitoring and react to hate speech appearing in media. |
| OUTCOMES | Project seeks to employ current and prospective journalists with the competencies that will be tangible in their daily work in preventing hate speech in media. Thus it will have a direct impact on the socially vulnerable groups and the society at large. Foreseen trainings, different activities and methods will not only motivate and educate, but also will enable for a profound examination of the problems and concrete journalistic actions to minimise them. Networks and platforms to be launched during the project focuses on sustainability that could be later on ensured by just having enough human resources and motivation rather than finances to keep up. Manuals published will have a sustainable use of being available in e-form. Engaged organisations will find resources to proceed on in hand activities. The innovations in this project are as followed: – This project will target a specific group of editors that usually are left aside educational activities. Editors will have an opportunity to touch upon a large group of journalists while transferring the knowledge. – Project is innovative in a way it provides a space for interaction of three groups: present and prospective media workers, socially vulnerable groups and organisations that work with those groups. – Project does not end in just organising several trainings, it aims to maintain a permanent contact with the participants – suggests topics, provides consultations, runs monitoring activities. This will be achieved by establishing a long – term interactive platform. CoE has published „Manual on Hate Speech”, however it addresses society at large and describes attitudes of European Human Rights Convention. This project seeks to publish a manual which develops understanding on audiovisual directive and enables media representatives to objectively portray vulnerable groups. |
| SUMMARY | The ethnic minorities and migrants are shown in the negative context by the media. This process is not properly monitored in the EU Member States despite the existence of EU Racial and EU Audiovisual Directives. The legally binding EU laws needs to be promoted. New EU countries like Lithuania, Latvia and Bulgaria only recently started to excercise the freedom of speech. However this freedom is not unlimited – old EU countries has already learned how to use the Freedom of Speech responsibly. Our partner countries such as Belgium, Italy, Spain are being characterised by much longer democracy traditions. In the latter new strategies are created in order to overcome the hate speech, racism and xenophobia. For this reason a plastform for cooperation among the different profiles of organizations will be created: Human Rights NGOs, journalistic NGOs and institutions, which prepare journalists. Three thematic workstreams will make changes within different groups – ‘Opinion framers’, ‘Society at large’, and potential victims of the racism and hate-speech. |
| FUNDING PROGRAMME |  |
| LINKS | Media4change.co |
