Media Reporting and Reference Guide on LGBT Issues

State institutions
• To ensure that Article 4.2.16 of the Law on the Protection of Minors is not applied with
the view of censoring LGBT related public information; that any limitations on freedom
of expression for the local LGBT community meet the strict requirements of lawfulness,
necessity <strong>and</strong> proportionality <strong>and</strong> are applied without any discriminatory animus; <strong>and</strong>
that any limitations on the right to freedom of expression for the local LGBT community
can be challenged through an effective legal remedy on the national level.
Journalists / <strong>Media</strong> agencies
• To increase human resource capacities through training journalists on terminology
<strong>and</strong> language to be used for specific communities (ex. peer-to-peer training). Despite
technology developments, it is ultimately the journalist’s ethics that determines the
quality of reporting. Improving the technical components or media materials does not
improve the message itself.
• To promote <strong>and</strong> embrace diversity in work environments. In order to know a community
is important to underst<strong>and</strong> their realities in our societies. It is important to work with
members of certain social groups <strong>and</strong> local NGOs to help them get involved in the media.
LGBT rights NGOs
• Continuous monitoring of media behaviour in order to identify the indicators described
above so that appropriate interventions can take place as well as cooperation between
the relevant structures to follow-up the denunciation of a case of discrimination in the
media.
• To strengthen the relationships with journalists in order the media to be used as a
tool to support human rights <strong>and</strong> promote equality. To involve media practitioners in
awareness raising <strong>and</strong> educational programs related to the use of specific terminology
for LGBT people.
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