A/HRC/25/69 23. The Chairperson-Rapporteur, in thanking the presenter stated that different countries had varying experiences and that national contexts were also important on the need to develop regulatory mechanisms. He gave the example of South Africa where racism is illegal, and is not be allowed to be propagated as freedom of expression, as it would only create more potential for conflict. As rights entail responsibilities, he added that evolving issues and context needed to be understood to address complex issues such as hate speech and xenophobia. He gave an example of the functioning of the banking sector under a selfregulatory framework, which lead to problems in recent years, and thereby commencing an introduction of regulatory frameworks. He stated that that the question might be: What amount of state intervention is required, so as not to damage community and society by its consequences? 24. Mr. Edmundo Bracho, journalist and consultant also with the Media Diversity Institute, gave a presentation on “Diversity and discrimination in news media practice: views from Latin America.” Mr. Bracho stated that MDI had been in contact with journalists and media scholars in Colombia, Cuba and Venezuela to assess and improve journalistic practice by looking at the perceptions and opinions news practitioners have of their own work, the national media, and cultural industries and by also looking into minority and interest groups, based on gender, race, ethnicity, religion, age, sexual orientation, language, nationality, political and ideological inclinations, cultural origins and practices, and other less traditional categories of diversity. Based on the research, Mr. Bracho pointed out that their findings suggested that one aspect that stood out as quite specific to the region when observing issues such as race, ethnicity and nationhood identity in relation to the news media is the strong presence in the majority of Latin American countries of a numerous indigenous population and of Afro-descendent groups. 25. However, Mr. Bracho elaborated that they are positioned by the media as essentially marginal with regards to citizen participation and as such they still needed to be represented in the media and in the socio-cultural narratives with a more intense, plural and positive presence. He also added that while the news and community media have made the minorities more visible and participative than before, racial and ethnic minorities are not represented adequately and that when so, they often fall into stereotypical prototypes with negative connotations in the publicity and the entertainment businesses, and in non-news broadcast media content. While legal frameworks set forth in the last 15 years by some of Latin American governments have favored the participation of indigenous and Afrodescendent representatives in institutional and official spaces, more inclusive shifts are still limited and partial. 26. Ms. Daniela Gomes, commenting on the presentation, stated that often it was not the absence of racial vocabulary by the media but the manner and context in which certain issues and words were being expressed that still gave the impression of racial prejudice. She also noted the limited impact of community television in comparison to mainstream media. The delegate of Argentina inquired about the study methodology and the delegate of the United States of America stated that denial of the prevalence of racism in societies is a significant concern that recurred in the presentations. 27. The delegate of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela highlighted the issue of visibility and the pluri-ethnic and multicultural character of the country and also outlined its on-going efforts to criminalize racism and hear the concerns of the people of African descent. The delegate added further that the category for people of African descent was included in Venezuela’s latest census and the government had supported people of African descent with resources and to raise the profile of their communities. He noted that while there was freedom of expression and opinion, there was also responsibility for what was said. In this regard, it was important to address issues of incitement. 28. In his closing comments, Mr. Bracho stated that the methodology of the research was essentially a qualitative approach with interviews with journalists from different outlets, backgrounds, categories of age, gender and ideological positions to arrive at a 25