Anti-migrant hate speech was discussed in Novosibirsk

On June 26, 2007, a round table "Hate speech in the coverage of the topic of migration in the media" was held in Novosibirsk. The round table was organized by the Center for the Development of Democracy and Human Rights (Moscow) with the assistance of the Moscow School of Political Studies, the Novosibirsk Center for the Development of Parliamentarism and Self-Government, and the Novosibirsk branch of the Union of Journalists of Russia.

Short presentations were made by experts Arkady Leibovsky (TsRDiHR), Galina Kozhevnikova (SOVA Center), Yury Sluyanov, head of the Novosibirsk TV channel MKS, and Igor Babenko, deputy head of the public and political relations department of the Novosibirsk Region Administration.

Arkady Leibovsky drew the attention of the discussion participants - journalists, activists of public organizations and representatives of political parties to that. that the topic of migration has recently been described in the media in terms of a natural disaster. Migrants are accused not only of criminality, but also of the destruction of national identity, as well as the corruption of power. Thus, not only a pronounced image of the enemy is formed, but it is also possible to justify all the problems by the presence of "strangers". The solution of which lies not at all in the field of migration.

Galina Kozhevnikova noted that "migration" publications acquired a similar orientation relatively recently. The turning point was November 2005, the time of riots in the suburbs of Paris, which were interpreted by the Russian media as ethnic and religious, while they were primarily social in nature. She also drew attention to the fact that at present the word "migrant" has actually become synonymous with the designation of "non-Russianness" of a person and emphasized the danger of the formation of separatist sentiments through the denial of citizenship on an ethnic basis.

Yuri Soluyanov expressed the opinion that the main problem still lies not in the mass media, but in the absence of a competent interethnic policy. In particular, there is a problem of minority access to the media. The project implemented by the MKS TV channel - providing air to representatives of most communities - both ethnic and religious - is only a single attempt to alleviate the situation, which so far does not find support outside the region.

Igor Babenko noted that the problem of counteracting radical nationalism also lies in the fact that it is very difficult for people who are seriously concerned about this issue to go beyond traditional actions, which, as a rule, do not resonate with the general public - they simply do not reach it. Meanwhile, the search for new solutions, in particular, such as the Nasha Russia project, implemented by ex-KVN-schiks on the TNT channel (a story about Tajik guest workers) does much more to foster tolerance than some official programs.

After the speeches of the experts, a lively discussion took place both on the issues of coverage of the topics of migration and interethnic relations in the media, and on the problem of the growing level of xenophobia in general. It was indicative of this discussion that many of the theses expressed by the experts were interpreted by a part of those present precisely in the ethnic direction, on the one hand (see, for example, the report of the Taiga.Info portal), and on the other hand, the participants in the discussion expressed their opinion that the discussion of the current situation is only a discussion of the consequences of more global processes. In particular, the deputy of the Novosibirsk Regional Assembly Aram Suvaryan expressed the opinion that one of the reasons is the absence - after the collapse of the USSR - of a coherent state ideology aimed, in particular, at supporting a high cultural level. (One of the signs of this, he called the dominance of entertainment programs on television and the absence of cultural and educational ones).

**Int. inf.