BBC Outreach & Corporate Responsibility Feed

Media on the Move: the next move

2016-10-12T19:26:41+00:00

A group of women from the member-led group Leeds Gypsy and Traveller Exchange visited the BBC Look North studio in Hull. The visit was arranged following the Media on the Move event in Birmingham, jointly arranged by BBC Outreach and by Rural Media which publishes the Travellers' Times. The aim of Media on the Move was to raise awareness about Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people among programme makers, to break down stereotypes, and to attempt to rebuild their confidence in the media.

‘It is perhaps understandable that many journalists really don't know much about us, beyond the usual stereotypes’

Gypsy and Traveller people are more than used to being represented in either exotic and romantic, or more usually, negative and demonising ways. The recent programmes under the 'Big Fat Gypsy Weddings' type banner were, even for us, a new low.

Our members' confidence that they could be treated fairly by the media has been wiped out by it. So the Media on the Move event, which myself and one of our younger members attended, felt like a genuine attempt at creating change.

There my colleague Ellen Teresa met Jane Birch who invited us to visit the Look North studio in Hull where Jane is the Editor. I have appeared a couple of times, by remote link, on the programme when they have covered issues to do with unauthorised encampments by Gypsy and Traveller people.

I am happy to do this, it is my job. But I am also very keen that the direct voices of Gypsy and Traveller people are heard and that more and more individuals have skills and confidence to speak up for themselves, so it seemed like a very good idea to be able to meet the programme makers and presenter in person.

With presenter Peter Levy in the Look North studio in Hull

Our members were interested in the visit but very wary that they might have to 'be on the telly'. Jane and I agreed that this visit was not for that purpose and we were able to assure the group that only film or pictures that were acceptable to everyone would be published.

We wanted to film the visit but again we agreed that this would only be for ourselves as a memento of it and for us to learn from. So, with this agreed, but still feeling quite shy, we went to Hull.

What a great welcome we received! We spent time in the actual studio, learning about the cameras and the autocue and talking about interviewing techniques, thinking about responding to awkward questions and understanding what the programme makers want.

Maisie joked that she would like to be the weather presenter and we learned about how that section of the programme comes from Leeds. We were able to meet a video journalist and to watch the programme being broadcast live from the gallery where all the technical stuff happens.

At lunch more members of the programme team joined us for a 'Q&A'. Gypsy and Traveller people are a small minority in the UK so it is perhaps understandable that many journalists really don't know much about us, beyond the usual stereotypes. Lots of useful information was shared, the 'awkward' questions were asked, and answered (rubbish, crime, tax, and so on).

So will our members be leaping to 'be on the telly' instead of myself next time Gypsies and Travellers feature on the programme?

Possibly not, yet. However as a first step on the way this visit certainly has raised confidence and interest. For myself I am happy to keep talking about the 'issues' and helping the BBC to present balanced reporting.

However, knowing that nothing breaks down barriers like people working alongside each other, what I'm really excited about is the possibility that one of my colleagues might one day be making the news, operating the camera or presenting the weather!

The Media on the Move conference explored the past, present and future portrayal of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities. It was held by BBC Outreach and Travellers’ Times, which is a magazine and website for people in the communities and those who work with them.

BBC Outreach & Corporate Responsibility brings the BBC closer to its audiences - particularly those audiences we have identified as harder to reach - with face-to-face activity, community support and staff volunteering.

Media on the Move

2016-07-08T14:42:52+00:00

Maria McGeoghan attended the Media on the Move conference in July with BBC Outreach, the Rural Media Company and Travellers' Times magazine. She and other media industry delegates found out more about the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller community, working with them on informed portrayal and looking at some of the myths that have grown up over the years.

How much do we really know about the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller community beyond the dresses and ceremony of My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding, drama depictions in programmes like Call The Midwife and Peaky Blinders, and ongoing tabloid battles about ‘illegal’ encampments?

I’ve worked in journalism for well over 30 years and the honest answer is: Not much.

So when BBC Outreach organised a one-day Media on the Move conference to bring us face to face with members of the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller community - the turnout was high. BBC staff, community groups, writers, producers and journalists came to the BBC Birmingham's Mailbox HQ to learn from a community we rarely get to meet.

Candis Nergaard translated Romany for Peaky Blinders series three

Held in partnership with Travellers’ Times, a magazine and website aimed at Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities, and with Rural Media, an award-winning media production charity, the tone at first was sombre.

“I’ve seen the depth of prejudice and racism Gypsy families face on a daily basis,” said Nic Millington, who runs Rural Media.

Then followed a beautiful film, The Oldest Show On The Road, by poet Damian Le Bas, editor-at-large of Travellers’ Times, outlining the proud history of his and the wider community which goes back through the centuries; a history of the slang names they have been called down the years from ‘untouchables’ to ‘animals’.

Between 1850 and 1950 was a golden age for the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities, but mechanisation took many of their farming jobs and they had to look further afield to find new ways of making a living.

As we covered the event on Twitter someone gently pointed out that using capital letters for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller ‘would go a long way.’

Said Damian: “If you are Irish or Inuit - you expect your identity to have a capital letter. I want to get the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller community recognised as a proper ethnic group with its own history, language and culture.”

We changed it.

One of the conference delegates, PC Jim Davies of the Gypsy Roma Traveller Police Association

During a very lively series of creative sessions to debate how the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities could find new ways of telling their stories in the mainstream media the ideas flew thick and fast.

What about a soap opera? A life swap programme? A documentary about being a gay Traveller? Anything to dispel myths, build trust and represent these communities as they really are.

During a Q&A session led by the BBC’s David Jennings, Head of Region for BBC West Midlands, Damian Le Bas revealed why it is often difficult to get someone from the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller community to comment on a story.

“People don’t want to be racially abused on air, it’s not nice. There’s a presumption that we are all the same and we can take anything. There’s a lot of laziness. Two minutes Googling will tell you that we have our own history and our own languages. This is well documented. “

Damian’s wife Candis translated Romany for Peaky Blinders series three: “ I could get emotional about that. People like it and there was a real commitment to get it right,” he said.

One of the highlights of the day was a fantastic performance from award-winning Irish Traveller folk singer and story-teller Thomas McCarthy who thought that their ancient history as the Pavee or Walking People had been ‘totally ignored’.

“I’d like to see positives, because there is so much negativity,” he said.

Opening the conference Diane Reid, Head of BBC Outreach, said she hoped everyone would be open to new ideas and have ‘changed a bit’ by the end of the day.

I know I have.

Tweets from the conference used Twitter hashtags: #BBCOutreach and #MediaOnTheMove with BBC coverage from @BBCAcademy and Tammi Walker