Back to the Future
It's that time of the year again for Gypsies and Travellers.
With Gypsy Roma Traveller History Month about to kick off and cultural events happening from Perthshire to Portsmouth, things are kicking off in a different way in the local and national press.
When yesterday's edition of the Sunday Express hit the shelves, word spread quickly through the community that the tabloids were rubbing their hands at the latest wave of legislation designed to make life even harder for Britain's Gypsies and Travellers.
'GYPSY CAMP CRACKDOWN' was the front page message, and Travellers were warned that 'the good times are over'.
If journalists think it's been good times for our community in recent years then reality must have passed them by.
The ongoing planning battles that are part of day to day life for many Gypsies and Travellers have never been a sign of 'good times'. The overwhelming likelihood of getting your application turned down as a Gypsy or Traveller shows that things have been too skewed for too long, but the Conservative Party's Sun-Sponsored race hate campaign against Gypsies has now come to fruition with the government planning even tougher measures.
A new criminal offence of 'intentional trespass' will be created and the right to appeal for planning permission retrospectively is to be removed.
Elsewhere, the media's double standard when it comes to Gypsy and Traveller-related news has been in evidence. The past fortnight has also seen extensive reporting on the trial of Crowthorne man Tom Stevens, last week convicted of the attempted murder of John Cole in September 2009.
Reports of this incident have been united in their use of language: they claim this was a 'Gypsy shooting' followed by a 'Gypsy trial', and there has been as much focus on the Gypsy and Traveller heritage of those involved as their has been on the facts of the case.
Once again the axles of the press are way off kilter when it comes to reporting on Gypsy and Traveller affairs. As one commenter said on GetReading.co.uk, "Why does it matter who the people are? Is it relevant? Every article on this story appears to begin with the word "gypsy".
A time will come when the press has caught on to the unacceptability of this kind of skewed coverage but it may take us a while yet to force their hand.