Online aid for refugee journalists

Exiled journalists in the UK can register with a new web-based service designed to help them back to work.

The RAM Project - Refugees, Asylum-seekers and the Media - will launch a full online directory of professional journalists at the end of July.

Entries show contact details, skills and experience and a short biography of each journalist. The site will be continually updated as new journalists register.

Nick Medic, communications officer for the RAM Project, explained that at least 40 journalists have signed up already and a further 80 are part of the RAM Project network.

"We plan send copies of the directory to editors and those in a position to offer employment," he said.

Some journalists have already been contacted by a large UK broadcaster with the offer of work experience placements.

But organisers also hope that increasing representation of asylum-seekers and refugees within the UK media will lead to more balanced reporting on asylum issues.

Kosovan web journalist Besim Gerguri has eight years' experience as a reporter and investigative journalist. Now settled in the UK, he has been deeply affected by both his treatment as an asylum seeker and the coverage of refugee issues in the UK press.

"There are few positive asylum-seeker stories," he said.

"The media consistently link refugees with crime. But in a three-year period in Kent when the number of asylum-seekers rose, reported crime actually fell - and they failed to mention it."

Mr Gerguri was forced to leave his job and home in Kosovo. "But the most important thing was my freedom for which I have been waiting for so long - and which I still don't have.

"My experience was totally overlooked by the Home Office - despite having skills the industry needs. They didn't give me a chance."

Overseen by media ethics charity Presswise, the directory follows a number of initiatives launched this year to help exiled journalists in the UK.

"We've organised media forums in all major UK cities and a seminar in Bristol; we've produced a film on journalists in exile; we've published a monthly bulletin; and we have been monitoring reporting on asylum in the media," said Mr Medic.

The organisation also plans to run media training courses.

Sources:
http://www.ramproject.org.uk/directory
http://www.presswise.org.uk
http://www.cjfe.org/eng/exile/exile.html

See also:
http://www.journalism.co.uk/news/story620.html

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