Romani Media

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Press

Romano kurko
Romano kurko is primarily oriented to political events that concern the Romani minority and the majority of articles are in Czech. In Romany there are commentaries on recent events and a page for children, with Romani fairy tales and a vocabulary.
It is published by the Civic Association for Romani National Press (Obcanske sdruzeni pro romsky narodnostni tisk CR Brno). The publisher and editor-in-chief is Milos Smolen.
Address: Moravska typografie a.s., Moravske namesti 13, Brno. Telephone: 05/41 32 12 38, extension 208, fax: 05/41 24 36 79. Subscription information is available and orders are taken by the Romano kurko office.

Amaro gendalos

The socio-cultural monthly Amaro gendalos offers its readers reports, interviews, and other articles about matters concerning the Roma, all in Czech. In Romany there is a regular commentary and monthly news summary, as well as chapters from Romani history (which are prepared for the magazine by the well-known Czech Romologist Milena Hubschmannova), and a regular column is dedicated to Romany (Pale romani chhib), in which Romologists explain the grammar and vocabulary of the language. The editor-in-chief of Amaro gendalos is the Romani journalist Jarmila Balazova.
It is published by the Association of Friends of the Dzeno Foundation (Sdruzeni pratel Nadace Dzeno).
Address: Dzeno, Mala Stepanska 6, Praha 2, 120 00. Telephone/fax: 24 92 01 06, 24 91 90 99.

Kereka

The monthly Kereka is a magazine "not just for Romani children" that helps Romani children know their culture and history better and helps bring Czech children closer to the world of the Romani minority. The majority of articles are in Czech, the stories and fairy tales usually in Romany. Kereka is published by the Democratic Alliance of Roma of the Czech Republic, the publisher is Petr Tulija and the editor-in-chief is Jiri Pernicky.
Address: Democratic Alliance of Roma of the CR, Pospisilova 70, 757 01 Valasske Mezirici, tel.: 0651/614 711, fax: 0651/219 98.

Romano dzaniben

The magazine of Roma Studies, Romano dzaniben, is aimed at specialists and offers extracts from original works of Romani literature and analyses of them, examples of different dialects of Romany, lyrics to Romani songs, profiles of Romani artists, and reviews and other articles concerning Romani literature. The editor-in-chief of Romano dzaniben is the romologist Milena Hubschmannova and is published by the Romano Dzaniben Foundation (Nadace Romano dzaniben).
Address: Cimburkova 23, Praha 3, 130 00.

Radio

The Romani radio broadcasting section was established at the end of 1992 at Czech Radio, where the program O Roma vakeren (Roma Speak) is broadcast on Tuesday from 7:05 p.m. to 7:15 p.m. on regional stations, and on Friday from 8:05 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on the FM station Radiozurnal. The broadcast is mostly in Czech, and in addition to current news from Romani life, it offers interviews, contributions by telephone, features, commentary and observations deaing with problems of the Roma. Broadcast expenses are included in the Czech Radio budget. The head of the Romani section is the Romani journalist Anna Polakova.

Television

Television broadcasting for the Romani minority is the program Romale, which runs twice monthly. Production expenses for the program come from the Czech Television budget.

The State of Romani Media

Broadcasting for the Romani minority would welcome greater air-time and Romani periodicals larger financial support from the state. As it's main mission, Romani media sees the distribution of objective information about the Romani minority, in other words, what Romani journalists and activists really see as missing from Czech media.

Roma are still on the periphery of Czech media society, since a Rom journalist has yet to work in any Czech media office. This situation could soon change, however, as the Romani Nadace Dzeno (Dzeno Foundation) was organizing a three-month media course for Romani journalists beginning in September 1998, in which young Roma have got acquainted with the basics of journalism.