Annual Report Discrimination 2015

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Discrimination and the Roma community, 2015
72 72. Zaragoza. The media. Direct discrimination. The headline: “I hit her in the face but I didn’t threaten or rape her”
was published by the newspaper Heraldo de Aragón. The article included personal details such as the full name,
age and nationality of the alleged aggressor. In this case the man was North African. The article then informs its
readers that the alleged aggressor lives in a neighbourhood with a large Roma population.
First of all, personal details are protected by the Personal Data Protection Act, Law 15/1999. Secondly, by linking
this event to a neighbourhood where many Roma reside, the author induces readers to associate the Roma
community with this type of violence.
Articles like these magnify the negative image of some groups and ethnic minorities.
73. Zaragoza. The media. Direct discrimination. The digital version of the newspaper Heraldo de Aragon pub-
lished a story related to the definition of a word in the RAE dictionary (Royal Academy of the Spanish Language).
The article was entitled “Minorities take on the dictionary”.
dad/minorias-diccionario_981561.html
We believe that this headline is biased because it sounds as if we are taking issue with the dictionary in general
rather than opposing a discriminatory definition (use of the work ‘trapacero’ [swindler] in its latest edition).
Prejudiced dictionary definitions give credence to prejudice.
74. Zaragoza. The media. Direct discrimination. The newspaper Heraldo de Aragon published a story which
included the full name of a Roma individual who was taking part in an employment programme run by the FSG
in Zaragoza.
The following headline was used: “A women evicted from her home spent ten days in jail because it was impos-
sible to summon her to a hearing.”
The FSG and specifically the Department believes that personal data must be protected by all media profes-
sionals. In this case, not only was the media’s coverage discriminatory, it also linked and identified a Roma person
with these events thus perpetuating the already negative image of the Roma community and reinforcing ste-
reotypes and prejudices.
75. Zaragoza. The media. Direct discrimination. The newspaper Heraldo de Aragon ran a story under the follow-
ing headline: “Charged with the brutal beating of a pastor in Zuera.”
The full name of the alleged aggressor appeared in the article and the forum participants who commented on
the story identified the man as Roma touching off racist comments towards Roma and identifying them as
aggressive and delinquents.
The Department would like to remind the media (especially digital media) that names are considered personal
data and are protected by law.
Linking events such as these with Roma perpetuates prejudices and stereotypes against the Roma community
in general.