According to a public opinion poll concerning hate speech (May 2007), 40% Poles see it as a major social issue; 30% believe that TV is its main source; 49% and 20% think that politicians and journalists are its main users, respectively – these are the two professional groups whose representatives may proliferate hate speech, but who also have the capacity for developing a discourse involving respect for diversity.
The purpose of the project was to prevent the use of hate speech by politicians and journalists by organising training sessions targeting both groups. The other project goal was to identify groups most exposed to hate speech in comments by journalists and politicians.
The project identified three groups most exposed to hate speech: Muslims, sexual minorities, and Jews. The web and press were screened and monitored for comments concerning all three groups. Forty-eight journalists and 49 politicians expanded their knowledge of hate speech and its identification during targeted workshops.
More than 26,500 articles published in newsprint in 2014 were analysed. The study report was published in 420 copies. The volunteer-managed Hate Speech Alert website published a total of 116 cases of hate speech interventions and descriptions. Training sessions were delivered for 48 journalists and 49 politicians. Two respective manuals were published for politicians (750 copies) and journalists (450 copies) with guidelines concerning equality-fostering language; manuals were delivered to members of parliament, the president, and 200 editing offices of national and local media. The project closed with a conference for 50 participants. At least 1,200 manual recipients were exposed to the subject.
The project was implemented jointly with the Dialog-Pheniben Foundation; the Foundation’s anti-discrimination trainers delivered 80 hours of training.