A few years back while watching a video lecture of Haward Zinn in university of Massachusetts, I noticed something eccentric when he said,” Long back I have given up taking narratives from the media “& then something similar from Arundhati Roy in an interview with Tarik Ali.Back then I was the regular reader of some of the India’s leading dailies. The sayings were quite intriguing. At the back of my mind it kept puzzling me every time. Until a day, my enigma was solved.
Media- as Edmund Burke says is the fourth estate of democracy. The media serves as the module for communicating & predicting future vagaries to the general populace. It’s incumbent upon media to ventilate their grievances & insinuate morals, beliefs & the ethics of a civilized society. In a world full of disparities, conflicts & occupations; it’s this unprejudiced institution that keeps the adrenaline rush of a system going. It keeps vigil on the evil designs of a brutal regime. It’s aimed to protect the rights of downtrodden, marginalized & demonized sections of a society. However its corruption is surely not good for the health of democracy.
Muslim World at large has been at the receiving end by the coverage of world media. The callous, cold & biased outlook towards the community is appalling. There are multifarious occasions in the world history when media turned blind eye to the growing aspirations of the community & painted it in bad light.
After the Persian Gulf War in 1991, United States imposed sanctions on Iraq. U.S. was responsible for large number of Iraqi civilian deaths in the 1990s. These” sanctions of mass destruction “caused the deaths of "more people in Iraq than have been slain by all so-called weapons of mass destruction [nuclear and chemical] throughout all history." A large fraction of the million or more killed by sanctions were young children; UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy pointed out that "if the substantial reduction in child mortality throughout Iraq during the 1980s had continued through the 1990s, there would have been half a million fewer deaths of children under five in the country. World media not only legitimized it but also and gave little attention to this inhumane barbarity. Political vocabulary is used very prudently where “Genocide” is interspersed with “Victimization “in the war torn countries.
In 2003, US again launched an invasion of Iraq. It was the war grounded on the claims by journalists, political pundits and analysts of media that Saddam Hussein’s “weapons of mass destruction” posed an impending threat to US, British and its staunch allies in Middle East. Hundreds and thousands of Iraqis lost their lives in that war with no trace of lethal weapons.
According to a new report published in March 2015, at least 1.3 million people have been killed in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan from direct and indirect consequences of the U.S. so called “war on terrorism”. A shocking 5 percent of the country’s population wiped out in Iraq alone. This report is without those killed in Yemen, Somalia, covert war in Syria and elsewhere. There are 3 million internally displaced Iraqis and nearly 2.5 million refugees living in Pakistan. What is painful, when American public remains sadly misinformed by the biased narrative of the media .In a public poll in 2007 it was found Americans estimated the Iraqi death toll at 10,000.In a study by the University of Maryland, 38 percent of Americans still believe that U.S. uncovered clear evidence that Saddam Hussein was closely working with Al Qaeda, though the claim is false.
Despite the growing war debts, souring taxes, unproductive military interventions’ & successive humiliating defeats, according to the recent Pew Polls, nearly half of Americans believe that military force is the best way to combat global terrorism. Such is the height of “manufactured consent “by the hoax narratives of media to unleash rampant destruction in Muslim lands.
In 2012 ,a study published in the “American Sociological review “, conducted by an assistant professor of sociology at university of north Carolina says US mainstream media outlets are dominated by anti Islam “fringe” groups and are shaping the distorted public discourse about Islamic faith. In August 2011, a 130 page US report titled “Fear,Inc .: The Roots of Islamophobia Network in America “ reads, a group of foundations, think tanks and bloggers, as the prominent players to promote the fear of Islam and Muslims in the US. The study identifies seven foundations that have provided 42 million dollars to key individuals and organizations for spitting anti Muslim venom between 2001 -2009.
Back in 1983, fifty corporations dominated world media. In 1987, the fifty companies had shrunk to twenty nine with a biggest media merger deal then of worth $340 million. In 1990, the twenty nine shrunk to twenty three. In 1997 with the biggest firms, numbered ten, signed a $19 billion Disney –ABC deal, at the time biggest media merger deal ever. In 2000 AOL and Time Warner announced their intensions to combine and married a deal of whopping $350 billion. Then Time Warner/EMI and Tribune/Times Mirror merged. It’s believed today, six colossal media corporations tower all over the rest of fringe smaller firms. This is worse than a night mare that most of our information is controlled by few pockets. These firms shape the public opinion and work in tandem with states.
In the wake of recent past, after Charlie Hebdo journalists attack probably perpetrated by Muslims, a wave of anti Muslim attacks which remained mostly unnoticed was set in Europe. Three Muslim students at University of North Carolina where killed by a radical Atheist after reading Richard Dawkins & Sam Harris. Western media outlets proved a catalyst for it. Reports prove that Excessive coverage is given to the global and regional conflicts involving Muslim lands and killing of non Muslims by Muslims. Against this, when Muslims are killed by non Muslims, the identity of faith is kept anonymous.
Talk shows, Chat forums, News room debates are titled “What’s problem with Muslims today?” “Does Islam need reformation?” “Are Muslims incorrigible? This lopsided, narrow and sensationalistic bigoted western Medias portrayal of Islam and Muslims is bound to generate anti Muslim sentiments. This has become so deeply invested, that Islamophobia is now a reality in the western society.
The ousting of Egypt’s first democratically elected president, & subsequently his death sentence is an open assault on democracy. The parti pris reporting and the criminal silence of world media about the issue will breed nothing but aggression and violent means in Muslim circles. The persecution of Islamists & shrinking of their political space in Bangladesh under the guise of external forces by Khalida Zia regime and media coverage is quite distressing and humiliating. Who could deny the one-sided coverage of top notch channels like BBC,Fox News,Sky News and CNN in the recent naked aggression of Israel against poor Palestinians.
Back in India, a country which is plagued with meticulously planned communal hatred, illegal detentions & where fascist forces have found political voice; the mainstream media coverage is annoying. Events like Ballabgarh riots, where hundreds of Muslim families are displaced & property worth millions of rupees is vandalized, ironically don’t find space in mass media.
The likes of Salman Rushdie & Tasleema Nasreen rhetoric had been blown out of proportion. This negative publicity of Islam was only aimed to build a public notion that Islam is inherently violent and lacks space for dissent. Islamic doctrines encourage Muslims for debate.Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was the first to invite the people of book for an open debate & that too interestingly in a mosque.
It remains a stark reality the western media rarely highlights Islam, its contribution of building western society, its glorious past and its potential to revive spiritually ailing, morally bankrupt and ethically void world.
There is no denying of the fact that Muslims need to think of alternate and viable means to present true message of Islam to the world. The emergence of distinct Muslim media will provide a focal point through which Muslims, and particularly young Muslims, can find expression for their concerns and aspirations. In the light of the events of 9/11, western military intervention in Muslim lands, Covert wars & global campaign of maligning Islam, the creation of new spaces for counter narrative becomes crucial. These spaces will enable Muslims to express views and debate the issues that concern them the most. Already in the Britain & many south Asian nations, younger Muslim generation is judiciously using various media channels including that of social networking sites, to disseminate knowledge and debunk myths about Islam. In the French Charlie Hebdo incident whole world was trending on social networking sites with hash tag #jesuisCharlie to degrade Islam. The young Muslims retaliated back with the hashtag #WhoIsMuhammmad to dispel the hoax propaganda. It’s also encouraging young Muslim intellectuals have come up with debating forums in the west including that of iERA’s “The Big Debate” & a campaign “Don’t Hate, Debate” & “Muslim Debate Initiative” by Abdullah Andulusi. Muslim media outlets like that of IRFs Peace TV initiative can also substantiate handy in this regard .Peace TV is now multi lingual & has got some good coverage worldwide. It should come up with more critical issues & contemporary challenges which affect Muslim ummah holistically. But this surely is not enough. There is a dire need of Muslims think tanks to come forward and think of pragmatic road map to put an end to this vicious circle of scare mongering and demonization of Islam.
Media- as Edmund Burke says is the fourth estate of democracy. The media serves as the module for communicating & predicting future vagaries to the general populace. It’s incumbent upon media to ventilate their grievances & insinuate morals, beliefs & the ethics of a civilized society. In a world full of disparities, conflicts & occupations; it’s this unprejudiced institution that keeps the adrenaline rush of a system going. It keeps vigil on the evil designs of a brutal regime. It’s aimed to protect the rights of downtrodden, marginalized & demonized sections of a society. However its corruption is surely not good for the health of democracy.
Muslim World at large has been at the receiving end by the coverage of world media. The callous, cold & biased outlook towards the community is appalling. There are multifarious occasions in the world history when media turned blind eye to the growing aspirations of the community & painted it in bad light.
After the Persian Gulf War in 1991, United States imposed sanctions on Iraq. U.S. was responsible for large number of Iraqi civilian deaths in the 1990s. These” sanctions of mass destruction “caused the deaths of "more people in Iraq than have been slain by all so-called weapons of mass destruction [nuclear and chemical] throughout all history." A large fraction of the million or more killed by sanctions were young children; UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy pointed out that "if the substantial reduction in child mortality throughout Iraq during the 1980s had continued through the 1990s, there would have been half a million fewer deaths of children under five in the country. World media not only legitimized it but also and gave little attention to this inhumane barbarity. Political vocabulary is used very prudently where “Genocide” is interspersed with “Victimization “in the war torn countries.
In 2003, US again launched an invasion of Iraq. It was the war grounded on the claims by journalists, political pundits and analysts of media that Saddam Hussein’s “weapons of mass destruction” posed an impending threat to US, British and its staunch allies in Middle East. Hundreds and thousands of Iraqis lost their lives in that war with no trace of lethal weapons.
According to a new report published in March 2015, at least 1.3 million people have been killed in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan from direct and indirect consequences of the U.S. so called “war on terrorism”. A shocking 5 percent of the country’s population wiped out in Iraq alone. This report is without those killed in Yemen, Somalia, covert war in Syria and elsewhere. There are 3 million internally displaced Iraqis and nearly 2.5 million refugees living in Pakistan. What is painful, when American public remains sadly misinformed by the biased narrative of the media .In a public poll in 2007 it was found Americans estimated the Iraqi death toll at 10,000.In a study by the University of Maryland, 38 percent of Americans still believe that U.S. uncovered clear evidence that Saddam Hussein was closely working with Al Qaeda, though the claim is false.
Despite the growing war debts, souring taxes, unproductive military interventions’ & successive humiliating defeats, according to the recent Pew Polls, nearly half of Americans believe that military force is the best way to combat global terrorism. Such is the height of “manufactured consent “by the hoax narratives of media to unleash rampant destruction in Muslim lands.
In 2012 ,a study published in the “American Sociological review “, conducted by an assistant professor of sociology at university of north Carolina says US mainstream media outlets are dominated by anti Islam “fringe” groups and are shaping the distorted public discourse about Islamic faith. In August 2011, a 130 page US report titled “Fear,Inc .: The Roots of Islamophobia Network in America “ reads, a group of foundations, think tanks and bloggers, as the prominent players to promote the fear of Islam and Muslims in the US. The study identifies seven foundations that have provided 42 million dollars to key individuals and organizations for spitting anti Muslim venom between 2001 -2009.
Back in 1983, fifty corporations dominated world media. In 1987, the fifty companies had shrunk to twenty nine with a biggest media merger deal then of worth $340 million. In 1990, the twenty nine shrunk to twenty three. In 1997 with the biggest firms, numbered ten, signed a $19 billion Disney –ABC deal, at the time biggest media merger deal ever. In 2000 AOL and Time Warner announced their intensions to combine and married a deal of whopping $350 billion. Then Time Warner/EMI and Tribune/Times Mirror merged. It’s believed today, six colossal media corporations tower all over the rest of fringe smaller firms. This is worse than a night mare that most of our information is controlled by few pockets. These firms shape the public opinion and work in tandem with states.
In the wake of recent past, after Charlie Hebdo journalists attack probably perpetrated by Muslims, a wave of anti Muslim attacks which remained mostly unnoticed was set in Europe. Three Muslim students at University of North Carolina where killed by a radical Atheist after reading Richard Dawkins & Sam Harris. Western media outlets proved a catalyst for it. Reports prove that Excessive coverage is given to the global and regional conflicts involving Muslim lands and killing of non Muslims by Muslims. Against this, when Muslims are killed by non Muslims, the identity of faith is kept anonymous.
Talk shows, Chat forums, News room debates are titled “What’s problem with Muslims today?” “Does Islam need reformation?” “Are Muslims incorrigible? This lopsided, narrow and sensationalistic bigoted western Medias portrayal of Islam and Muslims is bound to generate anti Muslim sentiments. This has become so deeply invested, that Islamophobia is now a reality in the western society.
The ousting of Egypt’s first democratically elected president, & subsequently his death sentence is an open assault on democracy. The parti pris reporting and the criminal silence of world media about the issue will breed nothing but aggression and violent means in Muslim circles. The persecution of Islamists & shrinking of their political space in Bangladesh under the guise of external forces by Khalida Zia regime and media coverage is quite distressing and humiliating. Who could deny the one-sided coverage of top notch channels like BBC,Fox News,Sky News and CNN in the recent naked aggression of Israel against poor Palestinians.
Back in India, a country which is plagued with meticulously planned communal hatred, illegal detentions & where fascist forces have found political voice; the mainstream media coverage is annoying. Events like Ballabgarh riots, where hundreds of Muslim families are displaced & property worth millions of rupees is vandalized, ironically don’t find space in mass media.
The likes of Salman Rushdie & Tasleema Nasreen rhetoric had been blown out of proportion. This negative publicity of Islam was only aimed to build a public notion that Islam is inherently violent and lacks space for dissent. Islamic doctrines encourage Muslims for debate.Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was the first to invite the people of book for an open debate & that too interestingly in a mosque.
It remains a stark reality the western media rarely highlights Islam, its contribution of building western society, its glorious past and its potential to revive spiritually ailing, morally bankrupt and ethically void world.
There is no denying of the fact that Muslims need to think of alternate and viable means to present true message of Islam to the world. The emergence of distinct Muslim media will provide a focal point through which Muslims, and particularly young Muslims, can find expression for their concerns and aspirations. In the light of the events of 9/11, western military intervention in Muslim lands, Covert wars & global campaign of maligning Islam, the creation of new spaces for counter narrative becomes crucial. These spaces will enable Muslims to express views and debate the issues that concern them the most. Already in the Britain & many south Asian nations, younger Muslim generation is judiciously using various media channels including that of social networking sites, to disseminate knowledge and debunk myths about Islam. In the French Charlie Hebdo incident whole world was trending on social networking sites with hash tag #jesuisCharlie to degrade Islam. The young Muslims retaliated back with the hashtag #WhoIsMuhammmad to dispel the hoax propaganda. It’s also encouraging young Muslim intellectuals have come up with debating forums in the west including that of iERA’s “The Big Debate” & a campaign “Don’t Hate, Debate” & “Muslim Debate Initiative” by Abdullah Andulusi. Muslim media outlets like that of IRFs Peace TV initiative can also substantiate handy in this regard .Peace TV is now multi lingual & has got some good coverage worldwide. It should come up with more critical issues & contemporary challenges which affect Muslim ummah holistically. But this surely is not enough. There is a dire need of Muslims think tanks to come forward and think of pragmatic road map to put an end to this vicious circle of scare mongering and demonization of Islam.
