Should the international media apologise for anti-Roma racism?

[ingemann]

Of course, however, the media suddenly dropped the story once it came clear that those two children were in fact Roma... and it will be never spoken of again.

The Daily Fail is still running with the story of the Bulgarian girl over possible child selling, but the Irish one has been dropped.

It is entirely possible for two dark-haired parents to produced a blonde child - aren't the concepts of dominant and recessive genes taught at Leaving Cert level?

Yes it's quite possible the problem was that the parents had several children born over a very short periode (one year 3 of the children was born), so it was clear that something was wrong. The Greek police also tested whether child or parents was related (they was not).

At last this was how they looked

 

While the child's colouring is not impossible, the child do not look like the parent either in facial traits.

So I personal think the Greek police reacted correctly. As for how the media reacted, I think Danish media was relative low key. The British was clearly worse, but honestly with the behaviour of the British media in the last few decades, this don't even reach the top ten or hundred over terrible things they have said or done, especially as there haven't been any anti-Gypsy pogroms as result of this case. Of course in Ireland the poor parents deserve not only a apoligy, but also monetary compensation.

[ingemann]

I disagree with the assertion that the police acted correctly.  They weren't even profiling correctly.  They hassled, jailed, and embarrassed innocent people.  The newspapers, at least here, were just doing their jobs.  Moreover, the reporting ultimately led to a reminder to the general public that sometimes cops harass innocent people.  It is never a bad thing to remind the public of this fact. 

Gene test showed that the child was not the parents, they had several other children born over a impossible short period. So it was rather clear that some of the children was not theirs, of course it's only this child, which made into the international media for obvious reasons. So yes if the Greek police had not reacted at that point, they would not have done their job.

[ingemann]

I agree that the girl doesn't "look Bulgarian" (or Greek for that matter.)  I guess this may be more of a European attitude.  We mix it up quite a bit here.  It's not unusual to see brunettes with German names or Blondies with Spanish names or red-haired, freckled people English first names and Italian last names.  As I said, at meetings conferences or in situations where there's an international crowd and everyone has nametags or is identified in some bulletin or program, I am often approached by real Bulgarians who comment on how bizarre it is for me to have a Bulgarian name.  Americans, on the other hand, wouldn't know a Bulgarian name if it came up and bit them on the buttocks, and lots of us have blue eyes and yellow hair even though we might have names that originated in the lands of olives and lemon trees and warm breezes.

I really take more offense at the awkward assumptions of the police than the reporting.  If an American cop detained a black couple solely on the basis of them having a white child, you'd be hearing about protests every night on the news, and rightly so.  Then again, it may be that I'm not aware of some aspect of the reporting that going on elsewhere.  Here, it seems to all be fairly accurate.  The reports, at least in US media that cover international stories, are about how ancient anti-gypsy bigotry is resurfacing in parts of Europe.  This reportage, imho, is public good.

Maybe you should read what I wrote. This child was one of several (12 I think), which the mother claimed was hers.
so let imagine that American police had a raid at some place, where they found a woman with twelve children, of a age where it was unlikely to impossible they could be hers especially as at least one of the children didn't look like her or the father at all. Later they tested the children and found out at some of them wasn't hers, and this very poor woman admitted to buying at least one child.
Are you claiming that the police in this case would be called out for racism?

[ingemann]

Also parents choosing to enhance their kids genes =/= Nazi eugenicism.

Not technically, no, I suppose not.

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No, it really isn't.

Clearly it is, this have primary been a problem for British media not the world media, where this have been a rather minor story. So no the "international media" should not apoligise for the British media being British. So clearly the poll at is chauvinistic, bigoted and Britic-centric and you can answer "no" without it translate it into "I'm a racist".