Launched recently, Media That Moves is a report from Leeds Gypsy and Traveller Exchange, London Gypsies and Travellers, and research partner Public Interest Research Centre, which examines the systems that perpetuate negative stereotyping of Gypsies and Travellers in the UK media.
Based on 30 interviews with journalists, editors and activists and workshops with the Gypsy and Traveller community, the report examines the key role of the media in systems that perpetuate negative stereotypes, what the main influences on the media and their narratives are, and where they come from.
Drawing on previous research into media coverage about Gypsy and Traveller people, the report found on average one story per national newspaper every three days, without counting local news. Daily Express and Daily Mail alone counted for more than half of the stories published. Rather than struggling only with lack of wider representation, this is a crisis of misrepresentation.
