[Sociology_of_islam] Vinod Mehta: Muslims & Media Images

On Mon, 5/17/10, Yogi Sikand wrote: 

Muslims and Media Images: Where Things Went Wrong

Vinod Mehta

Before I come to the subject matter of this essay, I must make a disclaimer, namely, that I do not bring to the issue an academic’s or a specialist’s perspective. All I can say is that I have been an English language editor for more than twenty-five years, and in that period I certainly have a working experience and knowledge of some of the problems and some of the complaints of Muslims in this country in terms of their media representation, especially in the English-language section of the press.

We need to spend more time debating from the Muslim point of view the reasons why things have gone wrong for the Muslims with regard to the Indian media, particularly the relationship between the north Indian media and north Indian Muslims. I refer to north India and north Indian Muslims because in the arena of Indian politics this area and this community are thought to be representative of the entire Indian Muslim community.

Without seeking to apportion blame, we will begin by sketching one of the reasons for things having gone wrong. This reason is the lack of understanding among Muslims of the nature of the media in India, and where Muslims stand in the common civic space of India in 2006. This, again, is more important and relevant in the context of north Indian Muslims.

The next question is what the mandate and compulsions—or, rather, the challenges—of the Indian media are and what the role of the media is in society at large. Much of the problem begins because there is a lack of understanding on the part of common Muslims of the compulsions of Indian society. For a number of reasons, there is no forward movement in general amongst Muslims, again especially in north India, towards social transformation and modernization. Most north Indian Muslims, even educated ones, are unable to understand what the Indian media in the twenty first century is, and should be. They are not ready to realize that life goes on and that time cannot be reversed.

Against this backdrop, let us examine the hypothesis that the media has a special responsibility to portray Muslims sensitively, to be balanced and fair, since Muslims are in a minority and are the most backward community of India. Theoretically this may be true, but in the contemporary world, cut-throat competition is the driving force as much for the media as for any other business. However, it is argued that the Indian media should be more sympathetic and objective towards Muslims in comparison to other smaller minorities who are much better off, more educated, and modern in their outlook simply because of their economic condition. The media is, therefore, seen in very idealistic terms. It is also see