The Portrayal of the Roma Ethnic Minority in British Newspapers

Research Paper (postgraduate) from the year 2014 in the subject Communications - Print Media, Press, grade: 17, , language: English, abstract: The aim of this research paper is to highlight the representation of the Roma ethnic group in four British newspapers throughout the year 2013; two mainstream papers which are The Daily Express and The Daily Mail and two broadsheets which are the Guardian and the Daily Telegraph. Different articles from the mainstream papers and the broadsheets are collected through the Key Word Search in Context (KWIC) technique.

The analysis of the findings relies on the Qualitative Content Analysis method. This paper displays how the Roma minority has been subjected to constant negative portrayal in the newspapers selected. The focus on representing the Roma as a problem emerges through the topic of appellation. The newspapers selected use different labels to identify the Roma. Some of these labels are loaded with hackneyed stereotypes and stigmas but the overall effect of these different labels is the enigma created around this group, which is hard even to identify, and thus will always pose a problem.

The articles selected from the Tabloids often use the terms Roma and Romanian interchangeably which can be explained as an anti-immigration policy. The wave of immigration from Eastern Europe and particularly from Romania was not welcomed and thus recurring to identify Romanians as Roma was the easiest way to create fear and repulsion in the audience of these newspapers. Another key issue that characterizes the representation of the Roma in these newspapers is the obvious distinction made between the Roma ethnic minority and other minorities in the UK.

The Roma are portrayed as marginalized minority which refuses to work or contribute positively to the British society. This marginalization is fostered in the coverage of these newspapers through the emphasis on stereotypes and also through the emphasis on the exclusion of the Roma from space and also from any positive contribution. Another focal point in this paper is the representation of the Roma in a multicultural Britain in which everybody is invited to live equally and to be accepted despite their race, religion or ethnicity. The Roma in these newspapers are constantly asked to assimilate and to change their culture to fit in and that contradicts the aims and values of a multicultural society.