"‘When I grow up, I want to be on welfare,’ wish poor children from the Romani
ghettos”.
So reads the headline of a particular article published on news server iDNES.cz
here in the Czech Republic several days ago.
The piece gets into details immediately: “What would children from the Romani
ghettos in Liberec like to do when they grow up? ‘Be on unemployment or welfare,’
many answered during a recent survey by People in Need (Člověk v tísni). They
are doing worse and worse in the town of 100 000, living in ghettos mainly
because of their high poverty and low educations, according to a report by a
special group established by the Liberec town hall last autumn and led by
municipal councilor David Václavík.”
The article then continues with a rather precise description of life in the
residential hotels. With the aid of their impoverished tenants (most of whom are
Romani), the landlords of these places are tunneling thousands of crowns per
month from the taxpayers through the housing benefits that are disbursed to
those receiving aid in material distress. The headline and the start of the
article, however, are all but completely unrelated to the rest of its content.
The basic information provided by the first two paragraphs of the article in
question is as follows: There was a survey done by the organization People
in Need which determined that x % of children from Romani ghettos want to be on
welfare in the future, and there also exists a report by a special group at the
Liberec town hall led by town councilor David Václavík.
I started looking for these materials, as I am very interested in hard data
about the wishes of children from Romani ghettos. What did I find? No survey
done by People in Need about the wishes of children from the Romani ghettos of
Liberec exists. There is only the report of the group led by town councilor
David Václavík, and that mentions nothing about any such survey. This headline
and the first two sentences of the article are, therefore, disinformation and a
lie.
How does such misleading, untrue information make it into the news? It’s easy.
The author received, as background information for his article, a report from
the Liberec town hall about residential hotels. This report describes them
similarly to the way the Life Together civic association’s recent report about
Ostrava reveals the unsustainable situation around the residential hotels there.
At the end of this three-page report, the author of the article read the
following: “One typical sign of the places this report has covered is that
their residents lack an education. We should not be surprised, given the
conditions in which these people are living. This population is addressing
situations concerning their basic needs, and education is not one of them. The
value of education in these localities is very low. People there base their
decisions on their own experience, and that, unfortunately, is that most of
their neighbors cannot find work or do not work. People there are of the opinion
that even if they or their children achieve a certain level of education, they
still will not find work. Another problem is that the environment of these
localities is uninspiring, i.e., even in the families of children who should be
attending primary and secondary schools. Children from such environments often
fail, not for intellectual reasons, but because of the influence of the
environment in which they live. Spatial considerations are also a factor, as
most children do not have their own place to study. When they do study, they
must do so in one of the common areas of the apartment, such as the kitchen.”
The author of the article was not lazy – he picked up the telephone and called
the Liberec branch of the organization People in Need, from whom he learned,
among other things, that impoverished children lack positive role models in
their neighborhoods, that they see people around them dependent on welfare, and
that the impression they might receive from all of this is that living on
welfare is normal. It’s clear that some children then certainly might say that
once they grow up, they also want to be on welfare. I personally have also heard
a Romani boy express that opinion. However, under no circumstances does this
count as a “survey”!
As is customary on the internet, this disinformation, this headline, this rumor
and those two opening paragraphs are spreading like an avalanche. A VIP blogger
on iDNES.cz, Břetislav Olšer, has written a blog with the headline: “They
know the meaning of life: To live, like their fathers, on welfare.”
(Mají svůj smysl života; žít jako jejich otcové ze sociálních dávek)
Olšer’s piece pushes the original disinformation a step further: It’s no
longer just about Romani ghettos in Liberec, but about Romani children across
the entire Czech Republic. “They rarely attend school, they almost never
bathe, most of them are illiterate, and the only thing they hear and see around
them is talk of welfare and how to con the bureaucrats. What do they want to be
when they grow up, these children from the Romani ghettos in Chánov, Janov,
Liberec, Ostrava, Varnsdorf or Vsetín? They will be welfare recipients…,”
Olšer writes.
Another blogger on iDNES.cz, Martin Pipek, has written an article with a similar
headline: “Little Romani kids: ‘I want to be like Daddy! Lazy, never
working, living on welfare!’” (Malí
Romové: "Chci být jako táta! Línej, nemakat, žít z dávek!"). In this
hate-filled piece, Pipek states the following about Romani people in his second
paragraph: “I don’t know how many of you missed the report about how People
in Need surveyed Romani ghettos and found just what could have been expected.
Local Romani children have confessed that once they grow up they want to draw
welfare. Where else would they get the inspiration? If they are serious, what
awaits us with this minority?”
On the “karma” rating for Pipek’s blog posting at iDNES.cz, which runs from a
low of two to a high of 50 points, this article had received a rating of 40.99
when I last checked. More than 2 500 people have read it.
Once again: No such survey by the People in Need organization exists.
Does that interest anyone? The disinformation and lies continue to spread.
The Bloggers’ Codex on iDNES.cz reads as follows: “A blogger is not
permitted to publish information that is half-true, incomplete, untrue, or
unverifiable, especially if to do so would harm either a group or individuals.”
Readers can judge for themselves, therefore, what to make of the author of
the original article and the bloggers on iDNES.cz.
