MINELRES: SEEMO: Support for minority media

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Original sender: SEEMO <seemo@freemedia.at>


SEEMO PRESS RELEASE:

1. NEW SEEMO IPI MEDIA MINORITY CENTRE
2. SEEMO DIALOGUE CONTINUES
3. BOOK BY KEMAL KURSPAHIC
4. RESULTS OF THE SEEMO ROMA MEDIA MEETING AND ROMA BOARD
 
Vienna, 14 July 2003

SEEMO IPI Media Minority Centre

The Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), an
affiliate of the International Press Institute (IPI), would like to
announce that it will open, in cooperation with International Center for
Education of Journalists (ICEJ) in Croatia, the SEEMO IPI Media Minority
Centre (MMC) in Opatija on 1 September 2003. The centre will deal with
education, research and projects involving media of minority groups
worldwide.

This year several educational projects at the new MMC in Opatija will
take place:
a) Education of managers from Roma media in South East Europe
b) Education of editors-in-chief of Serbian minority media in Croatia
c) Education of editors-in-chief of Croatian minority media in Serbia
d) Education of journalists from Serbian minority media in Kosovo
e) Education of journalists from Albanian minority media in South Serbia
f) Education of journalists from Turkish minority media in Kosovo

The education staff will include leading international professors and
media experts.

............................
 
Results of the SEEMO "Dialogue Conference of editors-in-chief, media
executives and leading journalists of Roma media from East and South
East Europe"

SEEMO successfully concluded a two-days conference of editors-in-chief,
media executives and leading journalists of Roma media from East and
South East Europe, which was held on 2-3 July 2003 in Belgrade. More
than 70 participants from the region, including editors-in-chief and
media executives of Roma media, took part in the meeting, as well as
various international guests.

During this meeting, SEEMO founded a section within the organisation
consisting of Roma editors-in-chief and media executives from East and
South East Europe. Members of the newly founded Board of Roma media
executives are Peter Stefanov (Bulgaria), Jarmila Balazova (Czech
Republic), Zoran Dimov (FYROM), Orhan Galjus (Holland) and Dragoljub
Ackovic (Serbia). The newly elected Board of Roma media executives will
provide regular input to the SEEMO Board and SEEMO Secretary General,
but also to other international organisations and institutions.

As result of the meeting, the following conclusions and appeals to the
international community and political representatives were put forward:

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

INTRODUCTION

In the last ten years, there have been several International meetings,
where problems of the Roma media were discussed, including:
I. Conference of Roma Editors-in-Chief on 8-9 April 1994 in Novi Sad,
Serbia.
II. International Conference of Roma Editors- in-Chief on 27-30 December
1994 in Belgrade, Serbia.
III. International Conference of Roma Editors-in-Chief in May 1997 in
Budapest, Hungary.
IV. International Conference of Roma Editors-in-Chief on 4-7 February
1999 in Ohrid, Republic of Macedonia-FYROM with 110 participants from 31
countries.

Over the last five years, there have been at least ten similar meetings
with national and regional character where topics concerning Roma Media
were discussed. In general, the same questions and problems have been
elaborated as the most crucial problems of Roma media.

The SEEMO "Dialogue Conference" of Editors in-Chief, Media Executives
and Leading Journalists of Roma Media from East and South East Europe,
identified the following issues:

BASIC PROBLEMS

1. The situation of Roma Media, nationally and internationally, is not
satisfactory. This is influenced by:
- Legal regulations connected with minority media in some countries;
- Lack of professional Roma journalists in the region;
- Lack of financial sources for financing the work of Roma Media.

2. In order to overcome this unsatisfactory situation, especially in
countries with large Roma populations, a network of Roma Media on a
European level should be created. This is necessary because:
- Roma Media have no means for presenting the wide spectrum of
information available, because the conditions for information exchange
are very limited. One of the reasons for this situation, as concluded at
the SEEMO meeting, is the lack of cooperation between Roma Media.
Therefore, it was recommended at the SEEMO meeting to develop this
cooperation between Roma Media as soon as possible.
- The establishment of a data base for information exchange, about Roma
or in the Romany language. The recommendation of the SEEMO meeting is
that some of the existing Roma Media should take upon themselves the
coordination of these activities.

3. It is especially important to emphasize the development of print Roma
media. Print media in the Romany language are important because of:
- The standardisation of the Romany language, which is realized through
print media;
- Creating reading habits within the Roma population;

The recommendation is that:
Governments and governmental institutions should buy parts of these
print copies published by Roma and distribute them free of charge to
interested users.

4. In connection with the lack of professional journalists' staff among
Roma populations, it was concluded that:
Editors and journalists of Roma Media are mostly people without
appropriate education, and because of that reason it has been
recommended:
- To organize local and regional courses for journalists from Roma
Media;
- That the SEEMO IPI Media Minority Centre in Opatija, among others,
undertake activities connected with training and courses for Roma
journalists and editors, in cooperation with representatives of minority
media and all other interested parties.

5. Because of the existing practices of different forms of
discrimination against representatives of Roma Media, the recommendation
is:
Roma journalists should inform SEEMO in Vienna about all the problems
which representatives of Roma Media have during their work, especially
with regard to police, customs or border police. On the basis of this
information, SEEMO will act according to the practice of IPI.
It was agreed:
- To form a Board of five Roma Media representatives, which would take
decisions about specific problems and activities connected with the
education of Roma journalists and about other issues connected with the
existence of Roma media.
- Members of the Board are: Peter Stefanov - Bulgaria, Jarmila Balazova
- Czech Republic, Zoran Dimov -FYROM, Orhan Galjus - Holland, Dragoljub
Ackovic - Serbia-Montenegro
- Board meetings will be held in Vienna at SEEMO headquarters or at some
other agreed place.

6. Because of the lack of managing staff in Roma Media, it has been
suggested:
- To organize seminars for management of Roma Media;
- To hold the first seminar in Opatija in November 2003, organised by
the SEEMO IPI Media Minority Centre.

7. Special emphasis should be placed on production development and
information exchange in Roma electronic media, as well as on the
protection of copy rights.

8. With regard to the fact that in certain situations non-Roma Media
display a misunderstanding towards Roma, we appeal:
- To all non Roma Media worldwide to draw special attention to basic
human principles of journalistic ethics.

9. Programmes in the Romany language should be initialised within all
public services or state media in European countries. It has been
recommended:

To send a recommendation to all Governments in countries in which Roma
have these problems.

10. The Conference recommends to all employees in Roma media to become
members of local and international journalists' associations in order to
preserve their rights and to protect the interests of their profession.

Belgrade, 3 July 2003

Translation to Romany

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For more: South East Europe Media Organisation, SEEMO-IPI,
Spiegelgasse 2/29, 1010 Vienna 
Phone: +43 1 513 39 40
Email: seemo@journalist.com 
Web: www.seemo.at
Secretary General Oliver Vujovic 
Assistant: Kristina Benkotic