Media warned against feeding prejudice

THE Mass Media must be extra careful not to support, whether wittingly or unwittingly, discriminatory attitudes in their broadcasts, according to a EU-funded seminar titled “The Mass Media and Diversity”.

The seminar was part of the EU-wide campaign “For Diversity. Against Discrimination” under the umbrella of the European Commission’s Directorate General for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities.

The goal of the seminar was to examine the ways in which the Mass Media sensitises (or desensitises) the public on issues of diversity and discrimination.

Speakers included International Federation of Journalists Director Aidan White, journalist Pascale-Marie Deschamps, and Secretary of the Media Complaints Commission Petros Petrides. Ombudswoman Iliana Nicolaou, CyBC Director Marios Mavrikios, and Director of the PIO Yiannakis Solomou were among those who made brief remarks.

Central to the seminar was the notion that journalists play an essential role in the formation of public opinion and therefore bear a great responsibility in the manner in which they portray people of different races and ethnicities.

The speakers said that journalists should also be careful when describing individuals in terms of their age, race, ethnicity, religion, disabilities and sexual orientation “so as not to give negative impressions”.

The speakers recommended that the Radio and Television Authorities examine television series imported from abroad for racist content, and that Cypriot writers and producers “avoid negative descriptions”, especially for broadcasts popular with children, who are especially prone to imitation and emulation.

It was also recommended that news should be broadcasted in the languages of foreign workers who make up a large part of the Cypriot workforce.

Cyprus is one of 17 of 25 member states that has partially, and in some cases fully, transposed the Racial Equality Directive and the Employment Equality Directive into their national legislation.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.