| Bridging
the perception gap: cross-ethnic confidence-building with the media in Russia
Micro- < $15,000
|
Small-$15,000-$100,000 |
Medium-$100,000-$500,000 |
Large-$500,000-$1 million |
Very large- >$1 million |
| Partners: | National
Press Institute (Moscow) |
| Funders: | Council
of Europe |
Project objectives:
|
The project was created
to defuse tensions in Russia's major cities between the majority ethnic Russian
population and the country's many ethnic minorities, by training the media to
provide more balanced and accurate reporting. It had several key, overlapping,
objectives: | | •
|
to defuse tension between ethnic Russian and minority groups; |
| •
| to
promote, among key Russian journalists, the skills necessary for adequate coverage
of ethnic minorities, as well as an understanding of the media's importance in
shaping attitudes among ethnic groups in the population; |
| •
|
to develop a curriculum and training materials for teaching the skills and sensitivities
of reporting on these issues; | | •
| to
provide, through its briefings and press conferences, a constant stream of information
about ethnic communities in Russia and issues that affect them, in order to maintain
a healthy and transparent public discussion. |
Project activities:
|
Several activities were conducted within the project, which centred on a training
course for mainstream Russian and minority journalists on covering ethnically
charged issues, particularly the growing tension between ethnic Russians and minorities
of Caucasian descent. | | •
| a
six-month training course for mainstream Russian and minority journalists on covering
ethnically charged issues. The course included 12 sessions. It was taught by leading
Russian and foreign journalists, conflict experts, and NPI staff. During the course,
selected participating journalists undertook supervised projects which were then
submitted to national and regional broadcast outlets. This marked the beginning
of a greater cooperation between news media in Russia regarding the coverage of
diversity-related issues; | | • | a
pilot project producing feature stories; | | • | regular
press briefings and roundtable discussions on ethnic issues at all of the National
Press Institute's regional centres. | |
