About

reAct! was established by the Romanian community in the UK to counter and respond to factually inaccurate or grossly distorted news coverage about Romanian’s in Britain. Operating through a web portal, reAct! provides a means for responding to journalists who misquote or misrepresent statistics about Romanians in the UK for the purposes of bolstering their arguments or editorial prejudices. Typically this will involve a journalist’s presentation of official data on the scale or impact of immigration to the UK. reAct! does not present an argument for or against immigration – discussion of this topic is a legitimate public policy issue – but will respond to any simplistic and convenient scapegoating of the Romanian community as part of this debate. How we work The reAct! offers a rapid response mechanism to counter factually inaccurate or grossly distorted news coverage about Romanians in the UK. When a relevant news item is published, reAct! fact checks these stories and, if an error is identified, the reAct! community brings this to the attention of the journalist and their editor, and asks for a correction or retraction of the story. The reAct! website will publish a summary of this story highlighting the factually inaccurate or grossly misleading parts and contrast this with the correct data.  A link to both the story and the authoritative data source will also be provided. Where a correction or retraction is offered by the journalist we will publicly recognise the professionalism of the individual involved. Where no response is forthcoming the journalist will be listed in the Hall of Shame section on the front page of the website, a league table of bad journalism.  A formal complaint to the relevant regulatory body – for example the Press Complaints Commission – will also be initiated. Although we cannot undo the damage caused by lazy and inaccurate journalism, we do hope to show that this comes at a price for a journalist’s reputation. Who we are reAct! is an independent community project. The site is administered by volunteers and overseen by an editorial board comprising representatives from several prominent Romanian organisations in the UK. [insert links to organisations] To email the reAct! project click here.