A/HRC/28/64 of prosecution.23 In the Americas, judicial decisions have been made in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Peru and the United States of America, but none has been made in Central America or in the Caribbean.24 B. Negative/stereotyped portrayal and lack of representation of minority groups in the media 62. Minorities are often portrayed in a stereotyped manner in the media, through broad generalizations of perceived characteristics of the group as a whole, which, in many cases, are negative or derogatory. The repeated presentation of broad negative stereotypes of minority groups, as, for example, criminals, violent, untrustworthy, disloyal, alien or dirty, nurtures inaccurate and false assumptions and opinions that may eventually develop into discriminatory attitudes and entrenched prejudices. Stereotypes may have the objective of or result in stigmatizing and dehumanizing whole communities. 63. There is a broad spectrum of either deliberate or unintentional negative stereotyping of minority groups in the media, ranging from emphasis on the ethnic or religious background of a person responsible for an offence or repeated association of derogatory and dangerous characteristics with specific groups, to the most virulent attacks against minority members, which commonly highlight alleged differences between “us” versus “them”. In some cases, there is direct incitement to violence. Such negative portrayals may reinforce entrenched views of ethnic or religious minorities as “others” and perpetuate ideas of structural disadvantage and inequality, as they fail to present a broader and more accurate representation of the situation and challenges faced by minority groups.25 64. Studies26 reveal that poor reporting by the media on features such as ethnicity and religion involves, inter alia, labelling, selected use of data, generalizing incidents, negative stereotyping, giving one side of a story, use of derogatory words, mixing facts and views, absence of fact checking, and mismatching of the content of the text and headlines, images and sound. Lack of knowledge about ethnic and religious issues by media reporters, absence of in-house training, poor financial situation of media outlets, heavy workload and scarce time to prepare reports were highlighted as obstacles to good, unprejudiced reporting. 65. Pluralistic media is key to providing independent and objective information as it incorporates diverse viewpoints. Media diversity not only refers to the existence of varied media outlets but to the access to mass media by minority groups, as well as to the existence of a plurality of viewpoints within media outlets. Underrepresentation of minorities in the media means that their voices and influence are absent to counter negative expressions. Minorities face numerous challenges both in their access to and representation in the media. 23 24 25 26 14 OHCHR, “Study on the prohibition of incitement to national, racial or religious hatred in Africa”, by Doudou Di ne, orkshop for Africa, Nairobi, 6 and 7 April 2011. Available from www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Expression/ICCPR/Nairobi/NairobiStudyE.pdf. OHCHR, “Study on the prohibition of incitement to hatred in the Americas”, by Eduardo Bertoni, Workshop for the Americas, Santiago, 12 and 13 September 2011. Available from www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Expression/ICCPR/Santiago/SantiagoStudy_en.pdf. Simon Cottle, ed., Ethnic Minorities and the Media: Changing Cultural Boundaries (Berkshire, Open University Press, 2000). Verica Rupar, Media Diversity Institute, Getting the facts right: reporting ethnicity and religion (Brussels, International Federation of Journalists, 2012).