Minority groups in the UK and Europe will benefit from the story of the Refugees, Asylum-seekers & the Media (RAM) Project, published on Monday 6 June by the media ethics charity MediaWise.

The RAM Report, edited by journalists Rich Cookson & Mike Jempson, explains every aspect of the ground-breaking work conducted by the RAM Project since 1999. It is designed to assist minority groups develop strategies that will improve media coverage of their issues.

Launched in response to growing concern about the way refugee and asylum issues were being covered in the UK and European media, the RAM Project set out to offer advice to complainants and assist refugee groups in their media relations in 1999. Soon it was providing media training for networks of concerned citizens and refugee community groups in dispersal areas, working closely with NUJ members and exiled journalists and attracting attention from all over Europe.

"Our aim has been to ensure that asylum-seekers and refugees receive fair and accurate media coverage, and an opportunity to express their points of view," says MediaWise Director Mike Jempson. "Inaccurate or biased coverage can adversely affect political debate, policy-making, community relations and human rights. The fact that the Press Complaints Commission has had to issue a guidance note to editors in October 2003, speaks for itself.

"Most RAM staff have been journalists assisting colleagues to get at the facts and encouraging refugee groups to engage with the media. We have also identified stories that were cavalier with the facts - remember 'Swan Bake'? Now we hope others will learn from our efforts."

RAM Project activities include: 

• a website (www.ramproject.org.uk) with over 10,000 visitors per month; 
• a monthly electronic bulletin distributed to 2,000 community groups & journalists; 
• supporting networks of local refugee and media activists;
• use-of-the-media training for community groups in dispersal areas;
• national and local dialogue with editors and journalists;
• monitoring media coverage with the academic partners; 
• training and work experience opportunities to help exiled journalists return to work;
• the establishment of the Exiled Journalists' Network;
• guidance leaflets for journalists.

The RAM Report: campaigning for fair and accurate coverage of refugees and asylum seekers, edited by Rich Cookson & Mike Jempson (£15, MediaWise, ISBN 0-954762-4-5) has been prepared with financial assistance from the Home Office Refugee Integration Challenge Fund.

Copies will be available at UK PRESS LAUNCH 11.00, Mon 6 June 2005
5th Floor, NUJ, Headland House, 308 Grays Inn Road, London WC1X 8DP
with Tim Lezard, President, NUJ; Peter Kessler, Senior External Affairs Officer, UNHCR; Rich Cookson & Mike Jempson; Forward Maisokwadzo, RAM Project Communications Officer
&
EUROPEAN PRESS LAUNCH 09.00 - 12.00, Wed 15 June 2005
at ALIENS IN THE MEDIA Passage Room, Résidence Palace, 115 rue de la Loi, B-1040 Bruxelles