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Media trial influencing court judgments
Mainstream behaving as if there is no judicial system left in the
country, top journalists
observe at a seminar in Malegaon
Stamping his valedictory seal on the claims by the
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A new
breed of journalists are rising from the Muslim community who feel
that unless they sit up and do something, the English media's
coverage of geopolitics and terrorism will not improve.
A Pakistani girl was reported to be among the over 30 killed in
the bombs blasts in Malegaon in September 2006. Though journalists
covering the blasts found that she was not really from across the
border and from Islamabad, a “mohalla” or locality in Malegaon, no
correction was issued. A search on the internet will still give
you results for the death of this mysterious “Pakistani” girl.
It was fitting in more ways than one then that a discussion on
media issues and Muslims should have taken place in Malegaon
recently. While the city has been portrayed as a den of terror,
Imtiyaz Khalil, a documentary producer and former journalist
pointed out that, during Independence, ”not a single person from
Malegaon left for Pakistan.”
The once bustling powerloom hub is known for its communal violence
and, later, bomb blasts, its poor infrastructure and basic
amenities, but rarely as the place where fierce freedom fighters
raised a flag of revolt against the British in 1921. Jameel Kranti,
a local resident, spoke about this aspect of Malegaon and
remarked, “We achieved Independence in a sense even before the
rest of the country.”
Malegaon is quite proud of this lineage and their educational
institutions. Some even feel the Sachar report does not apply to
them in many ways. On one issue they seem uniformly unhappy: the
question of how Muslims are portrayed in the Indian media has
rankled not only the community but also media practitioners for a
while, and things heated up quite a bit during the course of the
day as speaker after speaker, most of them journalists, pointed to
violation of the basic tenets of journalism while reporting on
Muslims.
A leading newspaper, which reported the so called Pakistani
child’s death, did not bother to correct this impression. The
confusion, says Khalil, was that one reporter overheard Islamabad
and jumped to the obvious conclusion instead of checking it out.
The question senior Urdu journalists and community leaders asked
was why does the media forget the basic principle of confirming
facts when it comes to the Muslim community. Moved by the need to
give a balance to issues concerning Muslims, A. Aleem Faizee, an
electronics engineer turned journalist. launched his website
Ummid.com. It is a popular and good resource base. In 2006 after
the blasts in Malegaon, Faizee and others decided it was time to
set the record straight.
He put in his own money and decided to launch Ummid.com to focus
on issues ignored or distorted by the mainstream media. He wanted
to write positive stories about the Muslim community in his
hometown and this later expanded to a broader focus on the country
and the globe. To make it more professional, he now subscribes to
a news service and gets a small revenue from advertisements.
The Urdu press had a limited reach, he feels, while his website in
English has a wider audience. He juggles various jobs but his
website is a labour of love. Faizee is the new breed of
journalists from the community who feel that unless they sit up
and do something, matters will not improve.
Like him, Shareque Naqshbandi is the editor of Asia Express, a
daily newspaper from Aurangabad, one that he started with his own
money. Giving voice to Muslims and strengthening media is his main
aim since he believes that isolating Muslims is another form of
oppression. He aims at making readers empowered and independent,
and the new media makes it much easier. Aurangabad and the nearby
region is under the media lens because of the number of people who
have been arrested with suspected terror links and there is need
for unbiased reporting here.
Malegaon has another reason to be concerned about the way it is
portrayed in the mainstream media. The perception that it
harboured terrorists was strengthened after the arrests in the
2006 blasts case. However, seven of the nine accused in the 2006
bomb blasts case had to be released on bail five years later,
after Swami Aseemanand’s confession in November 2010 pointing to
rightwing involvement.
Despite that, it finds it difficult to wash off the terror tag.
Though things are changing with social networking sites and
increasing internet use, Faizee says after the latest Hyderabad
blasts, one of the injured was portrayed a suspect and the same
trend was seen in the Boston bombing aftermath where everyone was
talking of a dark-skinned person.
While Muslims alone are not the victims of a biased media, Faizee
feels independent media platforms can put an end to stereotype and
prejudice. Others, like Shakeel Rasheed, senior journalist from
Urdu Times, spoke of the dangers of a media trial and how the
young men accused of being terrorists find it hard to get their
lives back on track once they have been acquitted.
He said that during the Mumbai riots of 1992-93, journalists did
visit areas dominated by Muslims and they could move around freely
but Muslims were advised against going to areas dominated by the
Hindu community. The fallout of all this suspicion is that lawyers
refuse to handle cases of terror suspects.
Journalists also slammed biased news coverage which relies only on
police versions. Does the Indian Mujahideen exist or was it a
figment of imagination, asked Khalil Zahid, editor of
Akhbar-e-Alam. Mohammed Khursheed Siddiqui, head of the
Maharashtra State Urdu Academy, one of the organisers of the
meeting, pointed to the dangers of the media bias towards Muslims
and said it didn’t augur well for the country as a whole.
Malegaon's residents feel media coverage on their issues or events
is neither fair nor based on fact. It has a thriving alternative
film industry which was showcased in a popular documentary and
there is a series on television as well. The city is trying to
shake off its past and the portrayal of its freedom struggle in
1921 as “communal riots” before Independence.
In 1921, after the British flag was removed from the Malegaon fort
as an act of defiance, a local government was established. Seven
of those who took part in the uprising in 1921 were hanged. There
is still no memorial for them. Malegaon gets the spotlight only
when there is a riot or a blast. That pretty much sums up its
importance in the media. But for Faizee and others, it is
important to drive a change in perception and they are making an
honest effort.
Meena Menon is the
Mumbai Bureau Chief of The Hindu. The above article was
published by The Hindu on April 26, 2013 in its Blogs
section.
She blogs on issues
which need to be in the news,
with focus on
politics, environment, gender, and human rights.
She can be contacted
at meena.menon@thehindu.co.in
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