The culture of dialogue against the language of hate

The danger of transforming an “alien image” into the “enemy image” is becoming more obvious.
Xenophobia and extremism manifest themselves in multiple concrete areas in the post-Soviet territory. So the seminar “The culture of dialogue against the language of hate” for young mass-media professionals from a number of CIS countries seems to be extremely necessary.
Russia, which inherited wounds hidden during the Soviet period and saw them reopened again in recent times, initiated the start of the project. The consequences of these wounds are tragic. Such a training seminar can be successful if journalists from other CIS countries with unsolved conflicts of this kind participate in it alongside with Russians.
While society is changing, intolerance, xenophobia and racism increase and start to be an source of danger. What is common and what is different between the ethnic groups where xenophobia is and remains a traditional thing?
The danger of transforming “alien image” into the “enemy image” is becoming more obvious.
Some media present a simplified look at “aliens”. Sensational reports which give the media more money only serve to increase hated between ethnic groups.
Reports should be written with objectiveness and equity in mind. It is very important to keep
away from stirring hate and prejudice. It is important for a journalist to learn how to speak to the people of the fact that the phenomenon of the diversity of cultures should unite and not to divide.
High-quality journalism can imply the criticism of the policy of authorities - journalists have to bring politicians to account if they propagandize intolerance, racism and xenophobia.
The target group is young journalists and media graduates from Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belorussia and Moldavia.
The project is aimed at the training of young media professionals who cover interethnic and interfaith relations both domestically and at an international level.
The target of the seminar is to show how to be objective in these issues on radio, in the press and on TV, to respect the rights of ethnic groups and individuals, and highlight the cultural element of any single group. The seminar also plans to create ways for monitoring and professional discussion, as well as improving the mechanism of influence of the media on solving interethnic and interfaith conflicts.
The realization of the idea of the seminar will boost the development of mutual understanding between different ethnic and religious groups. It is about creating a pool of media professionals from different countries in the CIS with unsolved conflicts who will be educated especially in this area. These young journalists will then influence society by creating new ways of mutual understanding via the media.