Founded in 1995, the Roma Press Center is the only news agency that covers Roma topics in Hungary. The mission, which is to change the image and the public discourse over the Roma community, has never changed in three decades, but its way of working has.

“The situation was much different 30 years ago in the media. The internet was existing, but not in that way. So the main information was in the newspapers or on television, so that was a different world,” remembered Ernő Kadét, editor-in-chief of the Roma Press Center. At the time, the news agency was publishing thousands – around 4,000, according to estimates – of interviews, news articles, and reports about Roma people in the most important national mainstream media in Hungary. 

“I could make a phone call and tell them that what they are doing it’s not good for the Roma, it’s not professional, and that they should question every point of view, such as the Roma people,” explained Kadét. “We had the soft power. So the number of racist articles significantly decreased, but then everything changed. It was the decline of the newspapers. We haven’t gotten more donations for years. Our work and the position of the Roma Press Center have decreased.”

The financing challenge

In addition to the media crisis, media outlets in Hungary have also been facing another major issue in recent years: the increasing control over the press. Hungary has often made headlines for its increasing attacks on press freedom. According to the annual ranking of Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Hungary is ranked 67th out of 180 countries. The press watchdog even considers Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban as a “predator of press freedom.”

The situation directly impacted the work of the Roma Press Center. “The situation of the media is difficult. Most of the media here are controlled by the government. And there are a limited number of independent media. So we can’t generate income [by selling] our articles to them. They also don’t have money anymore,” said Kadét.

The news agency therefore had to find financing, particularly from grants from the Common Values programs from the EU and the United States. However, Trump’s recent decision to freeze international aid has put the organisation’s future in jeopardy. “We had one US grant dedicated to supporting Hungarian media. However, due to a recent decision by Trump, this US-backed grant has now been frozen, putting our talent development efforts at risk,” said Kadét, which explains that this aid would have been around 12,000 euros, which represents around 15% of their budget.

To compensate, the organisation must work as subcontractors for some media projects by creating videos and other content for NGOs that focus on Roma communities and disadvantaged groups. They also rely on some private sponsors to finance their activities. Aid, however, remains insufficient. “Our private sponsors prefer to remain in the background, but they don’t provide us with significant financial support,” explained Kadét. 

A new life on YouTube

Facing all these uncertainties, the Roma Press Center thought about how it could reinvent itself to survive. Wanting to have their own platform to distribute their content and reach new audiences, especially young people, they quickly thought of YouTube. 

They then created, last September, the channel named RomaPlay. “We always wanted to have our own medium,” explained Kadét. “We have already reached 12 million people in the first four months. I think it’s a huge success, but we are just at the beginning of our journey.”

Many videos are published on their channel, with different themes, such as Roma Eye, a video that shares community views every week, Reset, which demystifies prejudices once a month, Telepjór, which reports on the field twice a month, or interviews published twice a month. 

They already made a report on workers in a pepper processing factory, for example, or a video to explain why the situation of Roma students is deteriorating and why most of them end up in poorly equipped and underfunded establishments. 

Eight people work on this YouTube channel, ranging from presenters to directors and editors. Since then, they have accumulated more than 1,000 subscribers. For them, YouTube is definitely the future, as they want to significantly increase their subscribers. “YouTube is a highly responsive platform, and unlike other media, it allows us to receive deeper and more valuable feedback from our audience. Moreover, within a year at the latest, we anticipate generating a substantial revenue stream from YouTube views and, later, from subscriptions,” said Kadét. 

The organisation also wants to use YouTube to reach a wider audience, including younger generations, and to encounter anti-gypsyism. “In Hungary, there is a common sense that Roma people are living on benefits or that Roma women give birth to children because of the benefits, but there is no benefit at all because the government cut all of this. So we are doing short videos about what the people are thinking about us and what the reality and the facts are,” said Kadét.

Fighting discrimination and stereotypes

Despite everything, discrimination and stigmatisation of Roma still remains in Hungary. Official data shows just over 200,000 people identify as Roma in Hungary, but activists and sociologists estimate their numbers to be between half a million and one million in the country of nearly 10 million. Roma remain marginalised, accentuated by Orban’s anti-Roma rhetoric, and little represented in the mainstream media.

“The society and also the media industry in Hungary still have issues and things to improve. The Roma viewpoint is totally missing in the media,” explained Kadét.

Even the most open and independent media in Hungary is totally missing the point that if you are talking about Roma, you have to ask Roma

Kadét

“They think they are open and liberal, but at the end of the day, you see non-Roma people talking about Roma people.”

To show a different image, more positive, of Roma people, the Roma Press Center also organised an “Everyday Heroes Campaign” whose aim is to recognise a Roma person who stands out in society. This year will mark the 7th edition of this competition, which, together with the public votes, allows the Golden Band Prize.

“We just celebrate the everyday heroes. They are part of the society, like doctors, policemen, lawyers, or an average worker. We want to show that all the Roma people in Hungary are contributing to society,” said Kadét.

The future is however still unknown for the organisation, which will soon launch a crowdfunding campaign. “I’m not saying the future is bright, but I think it’s not dark as well. We keep fighting for ourselves, but we believe in ourselves. We know we would not be rich people by working in the Roma media, but for us the goal is to present the Roma viewpoint in the society,” concluded Kadét.

Cover photo: Dezi&Dezsi (Dezdemóma Kovács and Dezső Szegedi), the main presenters of the YouTube channel RomaPlay.

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