The Workshop: Questions, Achievements and Feedback
17 07 2007
"Gypsies beat up our family" (Trud daily)
"Today come the Turks, tomorrow the Apocalypse" (Monitor daily)
"30 Romas beat up Bulgarians for 10 leva" (24 chassa daily)
"Professor beat up by gypsies – braindead" (Monitor daily)
These are some of the headlines from Bulgarian newspapers, most of which are signatories of the Code of Ethics of Bulgarian Media. In it, they promise that they will "not refer to a person’s race, colour, religion, ethnic background, sexual orientation, mental or physical condition, unless it is of importance to the meaning of the story."
In its How to Report on Minorities project, the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN, gathered seven Bulgarian journalists from national, regional media, ‘majority’ and ‘minorities’ media, in order to examine together the boundaries of professional responsibility.
The Questions
• Do the Bulgarian media respect the basic work standards of correctness when they report on minority issues?
"At some point we did, they had introduced a rule not to say ‘cop’ or ‘gypsy’. But then, it was quietly dropped..."
• Does the quality of journalism matter to the editorial teams of the main print media?
"I have never had a text returned, so that I could improve its journalistic quality. Sometimes, when they were scared of being taken to court, they made me ask the opinion of the concerned party."
• How often do journalists and editors of mainstream media refer to the Code of Ethics?
"Never. One time, some colleagues of mine advised me to use a text from the code, so that I could defend my position in a principle disagreement with the editors."
What did we achieve?• Nine Bulgarian journalists tried to reach agreement on the extent to which their responsibility lies, and on the good practices when reporting on minorities’ issues.
"For three days I learned as much as one learns in the course of years on these specific issues. It will directly reflect in my work. Above all, [it motivated me] to learn with maximum tolerance and desire about other ethnic groups," Iskra Sotirova, a correspondent with the daily 24 chassa.
• The lectors introduced three different perspectives on the media’s work with minorities – in Bulgaria, in the US and in Africa. Even though their presentations referred to geographically distant events, they all had a single message – quality journalism is key to the good societal relations. And vice versa.
"Even though it concerned completely different regions in the world, the process of the establishment of ethnic media [in the US] can serve as a showcase and a source from which to learn when considering the situation in Bulgaria," Beynur Suleyman, a reporter at Zaman weekly
• The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network distributed a special edition about the Bulgarian minorities in Bulgaria, produced by the project participants. It contains six portraits, six human stories. Its message is that, whether they are Roma, Turks, Pomaks, or Bulgarians, people are first and foremost people, and only then groups.
"Maybe I can become the first black policeman in Bulgaria,” Nasredin Rabi Abdu ponders, adding: “No, that could never happen.” A refugee from Sudan, he has lived in Bulgaria since 2001. The first time we meet, on the eve of World Refugee Day, passersby stare as we shake hands – a black man and a white woman," Ekaterina Petrova, Balkan Investigative Reporting Network
Training
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