Common Ground

Few Roma stories in Czech media

Media and legislative efforts to resolve Roma issues have been a mixed bag

By Zach Franz and Marie Novakova
Prague 2007: Common Ground

Czech law number 98/2002 Sb., which concerns grant programs, sets up the conditions and the way of supporting the activities of minorities, and gives the Ministry of Culture financial support for media projects published or broadcast in the languages of minorities in the Czech Republic.

Interview: TV reporter Richard Samko

“Skinheads didn’t know what to say to a Roma journalist”

Richard Samko. Photo: Czech Television.

By Alice Tejkalová and Israel Tockman
Prague 2007: Common Ground

Richard Samko (29) has worked for Czech Television (the largest non-private Czech TV station) for almost 8 years. He started there as a writer of small news pieces and has managed to become a respected reporter and the second Roma anchor in the history of Czech TV.  He spoke to us about his childhood in Náchod, preparation for graduation exams, his nephews and about covering skinhead meetings for Czech TV.

What were your first few years of school like?

I’m from Náchod, a town 150 km from Prague near the Polish border. For four years I attended a small elementary school, and it was very good. There were just three Roma students – me, my brother and another child.  I’m from a traditional Roma family.  My father has nine siblings and my mom has eight. But I grew up in a block of flats among “gádžos” (Roma term for non-Roma people) and I had two siblings – a brother and a sister. My father separated a bit from his family. He built us a block of flats with another man. He didn’t want to live with his whole family in the center of Náchod. So we lived in that block of flats among “gádžos.“ I only lived there till I was 15. At school I had no trouble. Sometimes kids laughed at me because of the color of my skin, but there weren’t serious racial problems.

News media reinforce stereotypes of Roma people

New Roma media are taking steps to educate public on Roma issues

By Alice Tejkalová
Prague 2007: Common Ground

One of the roles of the media is to educate the populace. People obtain a great deal of information through the media. You can learn languages, cooking from great chefs, and fitness tips from celebrities. You can learn quite a lot about other people from the media – how they behave, how they live. The danger in taking in so much information is that you can get caught in the net of stereotyped representations of some groups of people.

People from Roma non-profit organizations are well aware of the educational role the media can have.  In order to counteract prevailing prejudices they try to push as much information about Roma culture, education and daily life into radio and TV programs and newspapers as possible.  Some of them are puzzled about the reflection of Roma in the media.

Is every Roma ‘inadaptable’?

How Czech print and internet media reported
the Vsetin mayor’s eviction of Roma families

By Vendula Krizova and Mary Rizos
Prague 2007: Common Ground

Mainstream news publications — www.aktualne.cz and www.idnes.cz

Two well known court cases are named for Jiri Cunek, the mayor of Vestín. The first is connected to the eviction of Roma families from the center Vsetín to a locality called Poschla, beyond the borders of the district (Zlín). The second is associated with the accusation that Cunek accepted bribe money and sexually harassed his secretary.

This brief analysis deals with the first Cunek Case — the eviction of Roma families and how it was covered by print and internet media from October 2006 to March 2007.

Living in poverty

American photojournalist Julie Denesha recounts her experiences with the Roma

By Martin Brodsky and Sean Breslin
Prague 2007: Common Ground

Julie Denesha, an American photojournalist, has lived and worked in some of the poorest Roma villages in the Slovak Republic. While living with the Roma families, she had a chance to explore their culture and habits. 

Some 500,000 Roma live in Slovakia. About 25 percent of them are living in ghettos outside the majority society, without access to safe drinking water or basic sanitation.