{"id":1585,"date":"2014-07-16T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-07-15T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/%20rroma.org\/16-07-2014-new-study-rroma-in-german-media-still-heavily-discriminated-against\/"},"modified":"2022-07-27T07:48:55","modified_gmt":"2022-07-27T06:48:55","slug":"16-07-2014-new-study-rroma-in-german-media-still-heavily-discriminated-against","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/fr\/16-07-2014-new-study-rroma-in-german-media-still-heavily-discriminated-against\/","title":{"rendered":"16.07.2014 New study: Rroma in German media still heavily discriminated against"},"content":{"rendered":"

Several German \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tnewspapers report on the latest publication of political scientist Markus End \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twho studied the stigmatisation of the minority by national media on behalf of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe documentation and cultural centre of German Sinti and Roma. The study \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tentitled Antiziganism in the German \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tpublic. Strategies and mechanisms of media communication<\/em> takes a critical \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tlook at the representation of Rroma by and in public media. End did not only \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfocus on extreme, obvious cases of stigma and racism, but rather on the subtle \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tways of thinking in racist discourses that constitute the basis for the minority\u2019s \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\trejection. One of the author\u2019s central finding is that journalists who are usually \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tproducing a differentiated coverage also use the false and prejudiced \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tpresentation ways in the case of this minority because they don\u2019t work \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcritically enough with alleged facts. The racist stereotypes are found among all \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ttypes of media, in Boulevard as well as in so-called quality media.<\/p>\n

In the course of the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdebate on immigration from Romania and Bulgaria, the tendency prevailed to \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tspeak of \u201cpoverty immigration\u201d. However, this expression was implicitly assimilated \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tto the meaning \u201cimmigration of poor Rroma\u201d. Such coded statements are as \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tproblematic as open hostility towards the minority. Romani Rose criticises the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsame problem concerning the use of terms \u201cpoverty\u201d, \u201ccrime\u201d, and \u201cRroma\u201d: \u201cproblems, crime, poverty. There are many stereotypes \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twho are associated with the ethnic group. \u201cThe stigmatising debate has \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tintensified lately, said Romani Rose, chairman of the Central Council of German \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSinti and Roma. The fact that Roma and Sinti are repeatedly mentioned in the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsame sentence with crimes lead to the fact that the allegations against \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tindividuals are made into an identity-feature of all Sinti and Roma, he \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\texplained. The same is the case with the allegation of poverty: \u201cPoverty is not \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tan identity-feature of our minority. What does poverty have to do with \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tancestry?\u201d No group is so heavily marginalised in Germany as Sinti and Roma, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRose states<\/em> (Ambrosi 2014). Christine Lueder, anti-discrimination \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcommissioner of the federal government, criticised the excessive passive tolerance \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tof discrimination by the German government. It should do more to tackle \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tstigmatisation and marginalisation of this minority. Romani Rose demands from \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe German government an annual report on discrimination against Rroma in \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGermany. As the media themselves report about these shortcomings, they \u2013 first \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tof all \u2013 have the responsibility to do something about it. Therefore, in the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfuture, Rroma should be represented in the broadcasting councils of the public \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tchannels. At least, in Germany, in contrast to most other Western European \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcountries, there is a consciousness for the Rroma living in an integrated and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tinvisible fashion, having a German passport: \u00a0one estimates them at around 100,000 persons (compare Emmrich \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t2014, Grunau 2014, MiGAZIN 2014, Neues Deutschland 2014, Rroma Foundation 2014, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tScholz 2014, Verein Roma-Service 2014).<\/p>\n