13.06.2014 Die Welt defames Rroma through connotation with criminal clans

Die Welt (2014) reports on a trial against 45 members of a Polish Rroma clan, who is said to have been robbing seniors for money and jewellery by applying the so-called “grandson trick”: “Since November 2012, the Hamburg prosecutor’s office and the department of organized crime (OC) in the state criminal investigations department conducted investigations against the Polish perpetrators, based on suspicion of gang based commercial fraud. After an extensive criminal investigation, OC investigators closed on the family gang, which is regarded as the inventor of the so-called grandson trick. […] For the past 15 years, the police is aware of the deceptive practices of the Polish Roma clan. That the trick is very successful, is shown by numerous YouTube videos, where the family members brag about their wealth.” The reference to the ethnicity is completely unnecessary. Through the correlation of the facts described with a criminal, Polish Rroma clan, Die Welt suggests a clear connection between the offenses described and the ethnicity. This connotation is completely unnecessary. It reinforces racist ideas and resentment against the minority. In addition, the newspaper nourishes stereotypes of organized, criminal clans among the Rroma. However, this idea is wrong. The majority of Rroma are living respectable and inconspicuous lives. Rroma are not organized hierarchically, as repeatedly suggested by the newspapers. This idea is the result of the projection of the feudal, medieval order onto the Rroma. The Sächsische Zeitung and the Luxembourgian Tageblatt argue in the same problematic way (compare Flückiger 2014 I/II).