Racists and populists will not stop us! ROMEA launches crowdfunding campaign to support news server Romea.cz
The ROMEA organization and Karel Janeček’s Endowment Fund (Nadační fond pomoci Karla Janečka) are launching a crowdfunding campaign to support the work of news server www.romea.cz. The campaign called “Romea.cz – Racists and populists will not stop us!” (Romea.cz – Rasisté ani populisté nás nezastaví!) was launched on 10 September and will run until 10 December 2018.
“This is a matching challenge – specifically, the amount raised will be multiplied by the golden ratio used by Karel Janeček. Each contribution from the public will be multiplied by a coefficient of 1.618. The target amount, which we hope to even exceed with your help, is 12⁵, i.e., CZK 248 832 [EUR 10 000]. The aim is to raise from individual donors the overall amount of CZK 153 778 [EUR 6 000], which the fund will then match with support in the amount of CZK 95 054 [EUR 4 000],” says Monika Mihaličková, fundraiser for the ROMEA organization.
The basic aim of news server Romea.cz is to raise the level of the news reporting and the quality of the information available about Romani people, both among non-Roma and Roma themselves, and to contribute thereby to improving relations. For 15 years news server Romea.cz has been the most-followed, most respected news server reporting on Romani subject matter.
Approximately 3 000 readers visit Romea.cz for news on a daily basis. The server does its best to offer a counterbalance to the reporting done by larger media outlets.
The reporting done by Romea.cz offers a much more complete picture of the lives of Romani people, not just about problematic events that may involve Romani community members. When Romea.cz does report on those problematic issues, our reporters do so with the context and knowledge necessary to understand the news.
Romea.cz serves as a media watchdog, monitoring the media, including online social networks, checking the accuracy and veracity of the claims that journalists or social network users are purveying, and making every effort to convince the editors of other media outlets to correct reporting that is misleading, tendentious or untrue. Our reporters regularly discover and refute disinformation and hoaxes.
“This is not about trying to ‘silence’ other media outlets reporting about problems involving some Romani community members when they actually happen – we report on those problems too. We also insist on correcting the record when the media reports something that is demonstrably untrue or that is biased and therefore misleading – usually because the Romani people involved have not been given room to express their perspective. When journalists and politicians incite hatred against Romani people, whether intentionally or through their own ignorance, we also openly critique that,” explains Zdeněk Ryšavý, the director of the ROMEA organization.
News server Romea.cz also produces live online audiovisual broadcasts directly from the scenes of current events, including demonstrations. In such situations our reporters put themselves personally at risk to bring the news to the public.
The money raised through this crowdfunding will be used to cover the work of the journalists at news server www.romea.cz. You can support the campaign by clicking on this link.
