Serving drinks in a pub, being the token-Roma civil servant, helping the government propaganda, working as a political consultant for an opposition party, emigrating to England or teaching languages – different ways former Roma journalists are trying to survive the total changes of the Hungarian media. We all worked together at the first Roma Radio channel in Europe more than ten years ago at the RadioC. We worked against prejudice and injustice, and we would do the same now, but the place where we could work is not there anymore; the radio has been in silence for many years. The majority of the media is influenced by the government in one way or the other. The independent and free media is so small that many of us just dropped out in the last 8+ years. It was important for me to create this series to show, even just to myself, that there had been times when Roma journalism was a possibility, and there had been a time when I could work with these incredibly talented people.
Juci Csík is rolling a cigarette in front of the old headquarter of the Hungarian National Television. She used to be the most sought after Roma journalist. While we were doing the photo shoot, she mentioned, she would work in a small grocery shop. She hadn't been employed for months.
View from the windows of Radio Tilos - a blurred future
It was there at 6. Nagymezo Street, where the idea of RadioC came to György Kerényi’s mind.
It was still a secret at the time of the shooting, but he told me that one of the biggest opposition parties offered him a political advisor position. 'The time we are living in is such that I need to give up the impartiality of journalism to achieve any changes'- said.
For the first time in five years, Elza Lakatos was standing in front of the door of her previous flat. The flat where she worked and lived for 12 years. To see her old flat sturred up many feelings. She found it difficult to say anything. Her flat served as the main office for the Roma Presscentre, one of the most prestigious ethnic journalist centres in Central Europe.
The owner of the HirTv Channel used to be a close friend of Prime Minister Orban. They fell out of each other, and he turned his TV to support the opposition. Robert Báthory worked as a reporter in an investigative magazine programme on this TV channel. At the time of the photoshoot, he was making a report on an oligarch's farm. Since then, HirTv has changed owners and works as one of the main vessels of the government propaganda. Robert works for an online newspaper.
Budapest meant a lot to me; I worked there for 12 years as a journalist. I live in London now, and I only visit Budapest once or twice a year. These rare visits made me wonder whether this makes me a tourist now? I don't know.
After five years, I decided to find out what had happened with old my co-workers, the Roma journalists, and Roma journalism. It was also a good opportunity to use this project and reflect on my own journey. Am I still a journalist, or just a tourist in the middle of the city?
Ferenc Papinot used to do interviews with superstars in the National Stadium
'I used to like coming here, but now nothing left from it. It has been destroyed just like the RadioC'- he said with sadness in his voice. He works as a civil servant for the government.
Marietta Forgacs was posing for a shot in front of the buildings of the National Roma Council. 'I used to come here so many times to take interviews that at one point the leader of the council asked me to represent them on an official government meeting'- remembered Marietta and laughed. She was teaching Romani language at the time of the photoshoot.
Gyula Csak is one of the few Hungarian professionals who believed in the importance of Roma representation in mainstream Hungarian media. He used to do journalism courses for Roma youth in the Independent Media centre, and he was my editor in the RadioC. In 2004 he was invited to work in the BBC Hungarian programme. 'Imagine how hard it was for me to accommodate myself from the Teleki Square to Oxford street '– he laughed.
Robert Báthory was shooting an investigatory report for one of the opposition TV channels.
Eva Klára Galyas was the last reporter of the RadioC.
She was standing by the entrance of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, where she meant to do her last interview. However, the battery of her recorder ran flat, and she didn't have enough money to buy a new one. She was in a desperate situation, she had not been paid for months by then, and the unsuccessful interview was the last straw in her career at RadioC. Three days after the interview, she emigrated to Canada. Her (unfinished) report was the very last report which was aired on RadioC. She is a poet now and runs some artistic projects.
Szilvia S. Kálla was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. She now works as a carer.
Szilvia said that her earnings had been so low that she struggled to afford a bread roll and needed to bake it herself. She did not complain and tried to stay positive. 'I am not sure I could cope otherwise' – she said.
Jozsef Ignacz was the last chief editor of the RadioC. He fought for years to keep the radio on-air, but no one needed a medium where critical ethnic voices could be heard. Jozsef works for a government-friendly online newspaper now.