The need for greater media participation by Muslim Ummah is being deeply felt all over the Islamic world. The recently held Second International Conference on Islamic Media in Jakarta (13-15 Dec. 2011) jointly sponsored by Makkah-based World Muslim League and the Ministry of Religious Affairs of Indonesia has given a timely call to Ummah to awake and do the needful to have its rightful place in the world media. In Jakarta Declaration the conference called upon the Muslim countries to assertively strengthen media participation. It further called for strengthening media departments of universities in Muslim countries. It also called for utilising the positive advantages of new techniques in the field of media.
The art of human communication has made new strides in recent times. Spurred by increased availability of modern technology, media has registered amazing expansion. There are about 800 million people who use social network Facebook. It is being termed as a borderless country, rather the third largest country after China and India. Twitter also is getting wider acceptance and its present 17 million subscriber base is expanding with great speed. Arab countries have around 1000 TV channels with Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabia being most popular and influential.
There was a time when things moved slowly and changes came leisurely but now time moves fast and changes take place overnight or even in twinkling of an eye. New inventions like internet, Facebook and Ipod are achieving in years and months what newspapers gained in decades and centuries. A research in 2010-2011 revealed that radio took 38 years to get 50 million listeners while TV took 13 years, internet 4 years and Ipod 3 years to get the same number of subscribers. And Facebook has been the fastest, getting 200 million subscribers in just one year. The greater and faster accessibility to modern media techniques has increased the power of media hundreds of times. But when we examine the media access of Muslim world which accounts for one-fourth of human population, its reach and influence is abysmally low.
The keen interest of the Indonesian government in the conference was evident from the fact that it was inaugurated by the Vice President of Indonesia. The World Muslim League did its best as its Secretary General Abdullah Abdul Mohsin Al-Turki personally participated and guided the proceedings. The conference has recommended that a permanent secretariat should be established for appropriate follow-up action. If the recommendations of this conference are carried out in word and spirit, it will go a long way in strengthening media in the Muslim world. If the Ummah utilises the full potential of Islamic media, it may achieve the long-sought-after objective of becoming the leading force to change the world and usher in a better future for humanity.