Napoleon Bonaparte once said: “History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon.” All media – be it print, television, web and now social – records events, each in its own peculiar way and thus chronicle our times for posterity. Islam and Muslims will always be an important chapter in any account of world history or our nation’s past; so it is important to document the role of English Media in portraying Islam and Muslims. It is imperative to realise the importance of the various striking photographs and iconic images captured by the media which are permanently etched in our memory. These portrayals have been forming or scarring our collective psyche and are instrumental in the impression we form about the era we dwell in. David Wojnarowicz was correct to point out: “History is made and preserved by and for certain classes of people. A camera in some hands can preserve an alternate history.”
The good, the bad and the ugly
Most often nations have religious minorities. Their ratio may differ but in India, Muslims constituting almost 15% of the total population, according to official figures, are rightly termed as the second biggest majority in the country. The manner minorities and their religions are portrayed in the media defines the attitude of the majority community towards them and in this regard the English media definitely scores over the Hindi and regional language media in terms of displaying nuance, understanding and objectivity.
The reasons could be manifold but one reason which stands out very conspicuously is the level of professionalism displayed by those in the highest echelons of power in the English media. Doyens of the English media like Durga Das, Frank Moraes, Khushwant Singh, Kuldip Nayar, Dileep Padgaonkar, Pritish Nandy, to name a few, ensured that whatever flowed from their pen and published in their papers adhered to the minimum standards of journalistic ethics and probity. This cannot be said of the Hindi and regional media as they succumbed to communalism and jingoism in order to carve and retain their share of the readership-pie. In contrast, the Urdu media became completely “community” (milli) focused and unwittingly contributed to the process of “othering” the Muslims from mainstream media.
History covered or cover-up
It must be acknowledged that the English media has been a great chronicler of India’s history since the last century and all major milestones of the Muslim community in our country have been logged in great detail. Be it the freedom movement and the partition of our nation, the thousands of communal riots that debilitated the hopes and aspirations of Muslims, the attempts to interfere in Muslim Personal Law and minority status of AMU, the efforts by some to outrage the sentiments of the community through the publication of The Satanic Verses and Danish cartoons, the demolition of the Babri Masjid, 2002 Gujarat pogrom, the Sachar Committee Report and the stereotyping of Muslim youth as anti-national and prone to terrorism; all these chapters and pages that make the journey of Islam and Indian Muslims are there for every student of political science, sociology, anthropology and history to study and take valuable lessons. But many stories and issues have also been swept under the carpet and could not see the light of the day, not because they were not important or defied comprehension but only due to the embarrassment and discomfort it may cause to the grandiose claims of the state to be secular, democratic, imparting justice and offering freedom to all communities to profess, practise and propagate their religion and culture.
TV Media
Television took off in India in the 1980s and after economic liberalisation there was a plethora of channels in the electronic media competing for TRP and a slice of the advertisement revenue cake. English TV channels in India have by and large adopted a very balanced approach in the portrayal of Islam and Muslims. The live coverage of the 2002 Gujarat riots and the Babri Masjid demolition exposed the gory and vengeful agenda of the fascist forces in India and significantly lowered the stature of our country around the world in terms of its democratic credentials and adherence to the rule of law and protection of minorities.
However, since the global media scene changed dramatically post 9/11 regarding Islam and Muslims, the Indian TV moguls too had to relent to international pressure and toe the official line when it came to the question of showing Muslim youth being radicalised and joining terror groups as part of the religious fervour generated by Islam that encourages “jihad” and violent attacks on civilians. Any alternative viewpoint on this topic was considered a taboo and pandering to those with obscurantist and “jihadist” mindset.
Post 2014
After the assumption of power in 2014, the fascist forces plucked the soul out of media and transformed it into what is known by various nicknames like “lapdog-media”, “bhakt-media” and “pliable-media”. Intimidating and eliminating journalists who spoke their mind and criticised the anti-people politics and policies of the establishment, led to the almost complete capitulation by the media industry and there is near consensus regarding the practice or non-practice of “the journalism of courage”. Except a few media houses and a handful of news web-portals, the entire media fraternity fell prey to the threats and lure of the lucre by the establishment, severely compromising journalistic ethics, standards and the credibility of the media as a watchdog and the fourth pillar of democracy.
Social Media
Since the last five years, social media has seen exponential growth in terms of active users and content generated and uploaded. Technology, cost and ease of use have contributed to its superlative rise and news organisations have been at the forefront of leveraging social media to increase their reach and expand their markets. Jim Morrison’s oft quoted truism that: “whoever controls the media, controls the mind” has been taken very seriously by those who wish to create a chasm among communities of this country and sow the seeds of hatred and bigotry. So we have these huge “troll” armies operating on different social media platforms masquerading under different names, created and funded by the fascists. Their full-time job is to malign Muslims and try and sully the religion of Islam.
Social media is however also a double-edged sword and has provided a huge opportunity for Muslims and the faithful to defend their religion and try to clear the various misunderstandings that people may have regarding Muslims and Islamic religious customs, traditions, practices and beliefs. One thing to make note of; social media operates on the algorithm of promoting those who are “superior in numbers” and so the dice is loaded in favour of the majority in terms of active users. Majoritarianism has conquered social media but the Muslims must derive solace from the fact that social media has given them a level playing field and if they come up with exceptional content, they too can reach a considerable audience and make their mark in the social media stratosphere.
Community journalism or activism
Another positive development for Muslims is the birth of community journalism in English. Hitherto and till date this domain was the sole preserve of the Urdu media but now we have some very good Muslim owned web portals delivering mainstream and Muslim-centric news. Prominent among them are the Milli Gazette, Ummid.com, Muslim Mirror, Caravan daily and TwoCircles.net. Although these English portals are few and far between, they have managed to carve a niche for themselves in the online news arena and provide a platform for Muslims to present their point of view on issues of their concern. Of course, the contribution of Radiance Viewsweekly (Board of Islamic Publications), Muslim India (Syed Shahabuddin) and Islamic Voice (Sadatullah Khan) towards furthering the cause of Islam and Muslims in the English print media is extremely laudable. There were efforts by some Muslim intellectuals and activists who started a news service (on the lines of PTI / Reuters, etc.) by the name of fanawatch.com. A mainstream 10-day magazine called “Meantime” was launched with great fanfare but could not continue for an extended period of time. Professional management and designing them on self-sustaining business models are required for these “milli” English media organs to acquire industry recognition.
Muslim Media Celebrities
Our participation in various professional domains hampered by the vicious cycle of discrimination and lethargy leads to a situation wherein we have occasional flashes of brilliance. In the English media too we have some extremely talented individuals who acquired celebrity status. Zafarul Islam Khan, Saeed Naqvi, Saba Naqvi, Rana Ayyub, Seema Mustafa, Aijaz Zaka Syed, Seema Chisty, Iftikhar Geelani, A.G. Noorani, Muzammil Jaleel, Maria Shakil and Rifat Javed are highly respected in the journalistic fraternity and command a huge social media following as well. The problem is that with a few honourable exceptions most of these Muslim media personalities are left leaning, secular, averse to defend the faith and like to maintain a safe distance from mainstream Islamic organisations.
Islam not on the media agenda
For reasons right or wrong it can be safely concluded that except for some brief interludes Islam has not been on the radar of the English media of our country. There were some series of articles discussing issues like how the Quran deals with Muslim Personal Law, Islamic approach to violence, jihad, Islamic banking, etc. But by and large the intricacies of the Islamic faith and the different Islamic systems related to politics, economics and social behaviour have not been on the mainstream media agenda. Peace TV channel acquired tremendous popularity but was confined mostly within the Muslim community. Some portals and magazines run by fascist forces do attempt to analyse and study Islam with an ulterior motive of finding issues to increase and create misunderstanding within their audience but fetch diminishing returns. Mainstream English media likes to present Islam in India as being syncretic and mystic in nature which has been hijacked by hardliners and extremists who are trying to impose a puritanical and intolerant version of Islam. There lies tremendous opportunity for the faithful to spread the true and pristine teachings of Islam to our fellow countrymen.
Oft discussed solutions
The space given to Islam and Muslims, in one way or the other on English and Social Media is quite significant. However, the narrative is completely driven by those controlling the levers of “media” power who have a vested interest in presenting Islam and Muslims in poor light and stereotyping them as being the “other” and not ready to conform and join the mainstream. The way forward is two-tier. First, Muslims must join mainstream English media in large numbers. One way to increase those numbers is to offer scholarship to students who secure admission in top-notch media colleges and universities. Secondly, they must start their own media organisations and although community-focused journalism is required, these Muslim-owned media organisations must be very “mainstream” but be careful and sensitive to Muslim feelings regarding their community and their faith. This will require unrelenting effort which is possible only through collective efforts. Muslim religious organisations must take the lead in this regard. The reward they will garner is bound to be humongous both in this world and the hereafter.