Reax as newspaper strikes back at UK fears over Romanian migrants

(31 Jan 2013) SHOTLIST
16 January, 2013
1. Wide of blocks of flats in a poor neighbourhood of Bucharest
2. Mid of blocks
3. Close up of balconies
4. Wide of workers in factory yard
5. Close of workers burning papers to warm up in morning fog
31 January, 2013
6. Wide of editorial director Gandul newspaper, Claudiu Pandaru, in his office, looking through various ads on computer
7. Various of ads reading: (English) "Our traffic controllers have seen snow before. They were unimpressed."; "Your weekly rent covers a whole month here. Pub nights included."; "Charles bought a house here in 2005. And Harry has never been photographed naked once."
8. Close up of ad reading (English) "Half of our women look like Kate. The other half, like her sister."
9. SOUNDBITE (Romanian) Claudiu Pandaru, editorial director Gandul newspaper:
"There is this idea at the British top level that the entire Romanian population has a burning desire to work in Great Britain. My friends, we're not a 'banana republic.' We're just as European as you are. Ask yourselves otherwise: what can you offer to attract the valuable people from Romania?"
10. Close up of ads on computer reading (English) "Our newspapers are hacking celebrities' privacy, not people's phones" ; "We serve more food groups than pie, sausage, fish and chips"
11. SOUNDBITE (Romanian) Claudiu Pandaru, editorial director Gandul newspaper
"We use British humour when we want to tell them 'dear friends, not everyone is like the ones you fear.'"
12. Mid of ad
13. Mid of Claudiu standing behind his computer with ad as desktop screensaver
14. Various of freelance journalist Michael Birt looking through newspapers
15. SOUNDBITE (Romanian) Michael Birt, freelance journalist and commentator, British resident in Romania:
"Sometimes people in certain places where they see a huge influx of Romanians feel like they're being overrun and I think it's up to politicians to address that in a way which doesn't sort of arouse the racism, that doesn't arouse prejudice on both sides."
16 January, 2013
16. Wide of Polytechnics University in Bucharest
17. Close up of students
18. SOUNDBITE (Romanian) George Augustin, 21, aero spacial engineering student, Polytechnics University:
"I see this as a very discriminatory measure. Not everyone goes down the wrong path or commits crimes to have to be sent back to his country. I would like to go to Scotland for example, or elsewhere in the UK to study initially. I don't think it's fair."
19. Wide of fighter plane in the courtyard of a former communist era factory that used to produce heavy machinery and employ thousands of workers
20. Mid of plane back dropped by communist era blocks of flats on the outskirts of Bucharest
21. Close up of flats
STORYLINE
The scaremongering is all over British tabloids: Romanians and Bulgarians (pickpockets! Scam artists! Scroungers!) flooding into the UK by the thousands once work restrictions are lifted next year.
Tired of the stereotypes, some are striking back.
One Romanian newspaper is running ads questioning why anyone in their right mind would head for an island with bad weather and worse food, when they could stay in a country where "half the women look like Kate, the other half like her sister" - a quip about the glamorous Middleton sisters who are popular in the Romanian press.
"Your weekly rent covers a whole month here. Pub nights included," boasts a second ad in online Gandul, while another notes that Prince Charles bought a house in Romania in 2005.
Behind the tongue-in-cheek campaign is a serious message for Britain.
Romania and Bulgaria are the EU's poorest nations.


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