On 22nd August, 2019 the National LGBT organization LGL held an LGBT sensitivity training for the employees of the main Lithuanian magazine “Žmonės” and news portal Žmonės.lt. By organizing this training, LGL aimed to raise the awareness of professional journalists in fighting the phenomenon of homophobia, biphobia and transphobia in the mass media.
During the training, journalists were familiarized with Media Reporting and Reference Guide on LGBT Issues and were provided with tips on better reporting on LGBT issues. Journalists also had a chance to perform various practical tasks and analyze publications about LGBT issues in Lithuanian media.
“We are glad that Žmonės published a special edition of its magazine on the occasion of the Baltic Pride 2019 in Vilnius and were visible during the most important event for the local LGBT community. We are fascinated by portal representatives’ willingness to enrich their knowledge on ethical representation of LGBT issues in the mass media”, stressed Vladimir Simonko, Executive Director of LGL.
“We would like to thank LGL for conducting a training on LGBT issues. We are committed to always improve and objectively represent LGBT community in our media group”, commented Živilė Karevaitė, Chief Editor of news portal Žmonės.lt.
Paulius Peleckis/„Žmonės Foto“ pictures
E.T.Ho.S project aims to increase awareness and knowledge among media professionals and students about non-discriminatory representation of LGBT people in Media, to increase awareness about the phenomenon of homophobic, transphobic and biphobic media discourse among decision makers, professionals and the public, and to improve the representation of LGBT people and rights by media and political parties.
This training was organized as part of the project “Eliminating Transphobic, Homobophic and Biphobic Stereotypes through Better Media Representation (E.T.HO.S.)” with the financial support of the Rights, Equality and Citizenship (REC) Programme of the European Union.
