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Russian Journalism Professors Strive to End Media Isolation of Disabled

By Michael Mirny

The United Nations estimates that Russia has almost 14 million people with disabilities. However, despite being one of the most vulnerable groups in society they get virtually no coverage in the media – issues of accessibility, laws related to the disabled, medical care, and other similar topics receive little public attention. Varvara Kapatsynskaya, professor of journalism at Nizhniy Novgorod University of the Russian Academy of Education, believes the problem is with the lack of appropriate media training because “journalists are simply not interested in talking about the disabled, they prefer politics and entertainment, but even if they decide to write a story about social issues, they still do not know how to do it right to cause change in the society.”

Kapatsynkaya and fellow Nizhniy Novgorod media professors have developed an ambitious plan to change this situation. They plan to add a number of social journalism courses to the curriculum of a local school of journalism and then replicate it across Russia. Since no Russian school of journalism currently has a media and disability curriculum, the faculty from Nizhniy Novgorod has looked abroad for guidance, with the assistance of the IREX-administered, USAID-funded International Media Partnerships Program (IMPP).

To kick off this international partnership Nizhniy Novgorod’s school of journalism organized an online conference with leading US media and disability expert Professor Beth Haller from Towson University in Maryland. Four professors from Russia have also visited partner City University of New York’s (CUNY) disability studies program and journalism program to learn firsthand the strategies for successfully covering disability issues in the media, and to gain practical experience in training journalists and students how to report these topics.

“Journalists tend to write either superhero stories or personal tragedies stories about people with disabilities – and both approaches are wrong” Haller elaborated. “The role of a journalist is to close the gap between the disabled and the rest of society – not to widen it even further.” Through this partnership, Nizhniy Novgorod professors will work to change this perception and instead focus on teaching journalists how to cover the day-to-day issues people with disabilities encounter, such as accessible transportation, accessible accommodation, accessible parking, and equal employment opportunities.

These partnership activities are the beginning of a series of events that will lead to the creation of the first Media and Disability Center in Russia. In the fall of 2008 the University of Nizhniy Novgorod will open the center during a scientific conference for journalists, professors, and students with their partners. Kapatsynskaya expressed the hope that when the center is up and running Russian society’s awareness of the many problems people with disabilities face on a daily basis will rise, and that the government will have to start paying attention.

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