Advancing Roma Visibility, October 2011 - overview

How Fair the Balkan Media's View of the Roma?

On 14 and 15 October, Transitions and its partners organized a two-day conference in Novi Sad, Serbia, aimed at assessing media coverage of Roma issues in the Balkan region.

The conference gathered representatives from governments, civil society, and the media from Macedonia, Serbia, and Bosnia. Among other issues, the conference sessions focused on the position of Roma media in the region; the role of government institutions in strengthening Roma media and programming for Roma; and experiences from Central and Eastern European countries in countering prejudice and stereotyping of the Roma in the media. A regional news and information portal http://www.tocak.org/ on and for the Balkans' Roma communities developed as part of this project was presented at the conference.

“Advancing Roma Visibility” is a two-year project aimed at increasing the quantity, quality, and accessibility of media content for and on the Roma communities of the Balkans with a view to permanently increasing the visibility of problems, rights, and needs of Roma populations. Funded by the European Union under the IPA 2009 – Civil Society Facility – Regional Programs, the project is implemented in cooperation with Foundation Mediacentar Sarajevo, Kali Sara Roma Information Center, the Novi Sad School of Journalism, and the Macedonian Institute for Media.

Photos can been seen here.