Ernest Dempsey — Those concerned with saving the world from fanaticism would most probably have reflected on the role of media in fueling emotions of deprived classes. If not, some of Pakistani media sources present a good place to start with, albeit the ones most prominent are in Urdu language, which entertains a larger audience than English papers in the country. Just this morning, a widely circulated Urdu paper in Pakistan reported the incident of the suspension of several Muslim drivers in the US as an attack on Islam.The paper, which is the same that has been presenting late Governor Salman Taseer’s convicted murderer Mumtaz Qadri as a hero of Islam, has titled its post Anti-Islamism: 34 Muslims suspended in US for praying during office hours. The opening sentence translates as, “America’s anti-Islamic activities are becoming conspicuous.” This is followed by the statement that a US company ‘fired’ 34 employees for praying during office hours (later in the post, the correct word ‘suspended’ is used). Later in the post, the paper writes that the company has accused the employees of not following office timings of the company. The opening statement has been included directly without any source quoted or reference included—making it sound like the fact of the matter.
A number of credible media sources, internationally, have reported the details of the same incident, telling that according to new rules of the company, workers have to clock in and out when they take time out for prayers. Now this makes all the good sense since a number of issues can implicate the company if workers would leave for prayers while still shown as working in official record. Any offense committed by any worker out of duty without recording so can be an official alibi and the company can face serious consequences if eye witnesses spot the accused committing the act. Just an example! Now why would one not agree to clock in and out for accuracy of record?
But the bigger question before us here is: are some media sources, as the aforementioned Urdu paper, intentionally leaving out some details to make the incident look like an attack on Islam? If it is so, and I personally believe it is, it won’t be going far if we ask that such hatred-spreading media be monitored carefully because the scores of readers being misled this way are being brainwashed openly to be ready to fight against the ‘enemies of Islam’.
We penholders believe in freedom of the press, but not unbridled freedom that is provocative and destructive to peace. It’s understandable that opinion-makers do goad commentary on issues in the direction of their personal values and biases. The immediate concern for the liberal-minded, and particularly for the US-led warriors on terror, is whether they can counter fundamentalist propaganda masked as news. They certainly need to, and for this, they must assess their sources and formulate a strategy that would go beyond the English language.
