There is a growing awareness of the need to challenge media portrayals of certain communities - an awareness coming from the people living in those communities themselves.

A series of workshops designed to look at creating a community media strategy begins tomorrow in Fatima Mansions. Meanwhile, the Rialto Network, set up in 1996 to provide support and back up to the various community groups in Rialto, Dublin - where Fatima Mansions is located - is examining training local people to liaise with the media.

Irene Ward works with the network. "The media issue has been on the agenda for a long time because people feel it is hard to get a fair crack of the whip here. The only stories covered are about drugs, crime and tragedy.

The area has been sensationalised, but there is a more complex story here, and a very normal story too."

Given the amount of negative coverage, there is a deep distrust of the media among people living in Rialto. "We often get calls at the network from newspapers to comment on something which may have happened locally," says Ward. "But we would always be a bit hesitant about having anything to do with them. Now we want to turn that around, to feel confident and to use the opportunity to give a positive response." According to Ward, the Today with Pat Kenny radio programme in Fatima Mansions has been a catalyst for looking at what sort of possibilities there are.

"Seeing a community like Fatima Mansions portrayed in a way that was not entirely abusive for a change was quite inspiring. "There is a legacy here of a certain type of coverage which has made people bitter and cynical about the media.

Usually you get a sort of tunnel-vision approach, you rarely see any analysis of something like the drugs situation, and people have been badly exploited by their encounters with the media.

"We would actually like to become a lot more pro-active here and to go to the media with stories. We want to turn the relationship right around."

Taking control of media coverage is not in itself a new idea. People in the media eye, from politicians to rock stars, employ communications experts (otherwise known as spin doctors) who liaise with the media regularly to ensure a certain image is maintained.

"We're not talking about presenting life through rose-tinted glasses," Ward insists. "There are a lot of problems that have to be addressed, but we want to do the people of the community justice. People in an area are more than its problems."