Indicator in all countries

Media: Frequency and relevance of hate speech incidents in public life (and media) and media representations against migrants and minorities?

• Austria

  Several organisations and reports indicate that the media contribute to the spread of racist and xenophobic stereotypes.

• Bulgaria

  Hate speech incidents are not of frequent occurrence.

• Cyprus

  No studies are available on the frequency of hate speech, but international reports record that media outlets oftten stir up hatred. 

• Denmark

  ECRI has expressed deep concern about the pervasive atmoshere of intolerence and xenofobia in the media. 

• Finland

  No data available on the frequency of hate speech incidents in media.

• France

  The various debates took place during the presidential and legislative campaigns in 2012 on halal food, minarets, burqas, secularism, national identity, immigration, and prayers in the streets. The debates tended to raise Muslims as problematic for France.

• Germany

  There is a high relevance of hate speech incidents in public life and media.

• Greece

  Quite frequent.

• Hungary

  No data.

• Ireland

  There are isolated incidents of hate speech in Irish public life and media, though nothing to suggest any endemic problem. Some examples are the former mayor of Naas resigned following a racist outburst in 2011, and The Irish Independent was sanctioned for an article entitled; “Sterilising junkies may seem harsh, but it does make sense” (2011).

• Italy

  Yes.

• Poland

  Racist and any-migrant speech is rather rare in official public life but it occurs from time to time. Hate speech is present in the Internet. It concerns mainly Jews, Russians, German, Muslims.

• Portugal

  There are studies developed under the Immigration Observatory on media images and representations of immigrants and ethnic minorities and on the role of the press and television in the creation of stereotypes. The High Commission for Immigration and Intercultural Dialogue and the Commission for Equality and Against Racial Discrimination made statements on hate speech incidents and media representations against migrants and minorities.

• Romania

  There is no study compiling quantitative data, but some information on public discriminatory speech is available.

• Slovenia

  Hate speech incidents in public life are quite frequent,  targeting mostly ethnic and sexual minorities, often  in connection with the issues raised in political debate. Since recently, hate speech incidents on the Internet are considered more relevant and as such addressed more systematically by various institutions.

• Spain

  No data.

• Sweden

  Yes, there have been several examples.