Inter faith Dialogue and the Right
use of media to promote it…
Part 1
We may have
different religions, different languages, different faiths, different color and
skin, but we belong to one human race said Koffi Annon. But that is true in
physical sense. The fact is we are not human beings having a Spiritual experience;
we are spiritual beings having a Human experience. Every human contains the element of the soft and the
hard. For the sake of world peace, dialogues within faiths and among them will
strengthen the soft aspect.
Well you all
are doing your part to ensure that the dialogues must continue. How can we as
media persons contribute to these Inter Faith dialogues. In the parlance of the
Advertising world, Hammering is the
mantra to ensure that you are seen and heard. So how do we hammer our point
home, on this subject?
Customizing the product is the name of the game. Our end product is world peace. To achieve that, we will
require the entire multimedia world to help us. Today all forms of media are
sitting back to back, with each other on a single platform, called the
computer. You can watch a film, listen to radio, view videos, read a newspaper, chat with people on your
hand held device. Today’s generation is
comfortable with this platform and is using it to the hilt. But the 50 plus cant connect with it. That’s
where the divide lies, called the great digital divide. Therefore, apart from bringing different
religions, different faiths and different castes to come together and connect
on one table, the young and old will not gel even if they are from the same
community, because of the this great digital divide. As a first step the 50
plus needs to brush up their skills to become digitally savvy, if they want to
take part in the dialogues. The point I am trying to drive home is that, in the last two
decades we have seen an enormous growth of technology and the world is no more
the fragmented and poles apart. It’s now a global village, connected through
technology. So what our fore fathers could not do in so many years’, digital media
has done it in just 20 plus years. It has done half the job by uniting the
world, through technology; we will have to do the remaining, by uniting the
world spiritually through Interfaith Dialogues
At the outset we need
to customize our product. Like the Valentine’s Day we need to sell our product.
We need to market it. We need to design our commodity (Interfaith Dialogues) in
order to take it to the next level. If we continue to work on the default
method we will not reach anywhere. Let’s
make the best use of our new media tools to reconnect faiths, reconnect people.
As I said, the torch bearers of this inter faith dialogues should be our
younger generation. So let’s adopt their media language and lace it
with our experience and thoughts.
( PART 2 Coming up.... Next week Akbar and his inter faith movement & case study of Amir Khan's Satyamev Jayte)
Part 2
Now let’s indulge in
a little history of this inter faith dialogue. How many of us know, that Inter
faith dialogue in our country was first approached professionally by the Mughal
Emperor Akbar the Great. He called
the movement DIN E ILAHI. Akbar not only tolerated religions other then Islam, he encouraged
interfaith discussions and debates. After listening to many religious scholars
and wise men from the prominent religions of his empire i.e. Islam, Hinduism,
Zoroastrianism, Christianity and Judaism and to less extent Jainism, he decided,
that no one faith was entirely and exclusively true, he developed this
interfaith belief into a new religion called DIN E ILAHI or Divine faith and
encouraged its subjects to follow it.
It is a fact that DIN
E ILAHI never gained a prominent following, still, it promoted many universal
values, found in these religions, including, compassion, piety, abstinence and
prudence. History says it forbade celibacy and animal slaughter.
Imagine if
the Mogul King Akbar had the support of the new media i.e. face book, twitter,
SMS, Mobile, tablets, I pads, TV etc., DIN E ILAHI could have been a Brand
& an important land mark Vis a Vis Inter Faith Dialogue.
That’s why I
emphasis on Brand building. I may
sound like a marketing guru but without a proper media plan, media focus, media outlook
and use of all media vehicles, Inter faith dialogue will find hard to gain
momentum.
Building
Brand “Inter Faith”
Satyamev
Jayte a case study……
Like Amir Khan’s TV
show Satyamev Jayte we need to discuss brand Inter Faith on all media
platforms. When Amir was approached by Star TV for the show he made it clear,
unless the show is beamed on the Terrestrial TV network, there will not be any
impact. Only Doordarshan has terrestrial broadcast facility and the national
channel was roped in by the rival broadcaster Star TV. To ensure that the coverage of the show was
100% in the country, Amir took the help of All India Radio to make it
successful. And Metro audience was roped in through the private Radio
channels. Amir knew that without the
help of the print medium, his idea of making Satyamev Jayte a Brand will remain
a dream. So, Amir talked about the show Satyamev Jayte
every Monday through the columns of Hindustan Times, after its simulcast on
Sunday, on both Star and Doordarshan. Apart from the above Satyamev jayte
website was created and people were asked to log in to give their views. Free
flow of SMS, Twitter and face book further helped the show Satyamev Jayte to
consolidate its position. The series which commenced on 3rd May
2012, within 40 days, achieved a brand name and people are talking about it.
Imagine if Akbar the Great had these media platforms at his disposal, today DIN
E ILAHI would have been a force to reckon with.
(Part 3 Coming up.... Next Week Media plan for Brand inter faith and heart warming tale of communal harmony, a Muslim man performs Kanyadan of a tribal Hindu girl)
Part 3
Media plan for our brand Interfaith
As a first
step we need to ensure that even after this seminar is over, we must continue
to talk, to keep the Inter Faith dialogue alive. So we need to have a media
plan for our brand Interfaith. As a
first step let’s create a Blog or a web page, post conference, and put our
thoughts and ideas on this platform. Before we leave, we must share our Email
id with each other in order to keep the Interfaith Dialogue on. So, what can we share on this Blog…Stories... Inter Faith Success stories.
These tales can be the building blocks for our brand Interfaith. For e.g. let’s
revisit the story of the Hindu girl child Mahi, who succumbed to death in an
open bore well. How many of us know that the child was finally lifted out by
the heroic efforts of a Muslim dry bore well digger Sohrab Khan. No doubt the
army and the administration were doing their efforts, but, to break the final
ice, it was Sohrab Khan’s heroic efforts that were praiseworthy. But how much media attention he
got, we all know.
In yet another heart-warming tale of
communal amity, a Muslim man performed 'Kanyadan' of a tribal Hindu girl, Alpa,
at a village ravaged during the 2002 post-Godhra riots, even as her own
relatives stayed away. The members of the Muslim community living in the Panwad
village of Gujrat extended a helping
hand to Madhuben Rathwa, a tribal widow and the bride's mother, for making the
arrangements and playing the host at the wedding last year. Acknowledging
their generosity, Madhuben said, "The marriage ceremony of my daughter
could not have taken place without the help from the members of the Muslim
community as my own relatives stayed away. This may be due to my staying in
this locality of the village". Stories have a powerful way to
connect .They down load very fast in our memories. So we must share the heart
rending tales to keep the human element alive and kicking.
(Part 4 Coming up next week.... Hindu Sacrificed a child to keep word to Muslim)
Hindu sacrificed his child to keep word to Muslim
Published Online: Aug 23, 2010
This
is a real story from Pakistan’s Faisalabad, the kind of stuff we no longer come
across. During the 1947 Hindu-Muslim riots, on the eve of Partition,
innumerable people were killed, many became homeless and refugees. Many known
and unknown stories of brutalities and human valor, faithfulness and
faithlessness of Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims have come to light over the years
and are preserved in print or on celluloid. One of the rare stories of chivalry
that came to light recently was of a father-son duo, it was published on line
on august 23, 2010. The father was Master Maan Singh and the son Charan Singh.
In 1947, Charan Singh of Ghuman village of Amritsar
district, was a young boy of 17 years. He had fallen in love with a girl of his
village. When the riots erupted and Hindus-Sikhs and Muslims became thirsty for
each others’ blood, senior people of the village decided that all Hindus and
Sikhs will protect their Muslim brethren. They also decided that if a Muslim
family is harmed in any way, people of the village will compensate it. Charan
Singh, who is now 80, narrates
that after his two sons were killed in communal riots, one Noor Muhammad of his
village came weeping along with his wife to his father Master Maan Singh and
told him about the incident. Maan Singh had agreed with others to help their
Muslim brethren and compensate their losses. In this situation, he could not
decide how to compensate Noor Muhammad. After a pause, it dawned on him that
since Noor Muhammad’s sons cannot be brought back to life, he offered his only
son Charan Singh to Noor Muhammad who kept refusing the offer but finally
succumbed to Maan Singh’s insistence. Noor Muhammad, after the death of his
sons, decided to migrate to Pakistan. Maan Singh said while consoling his son
Charan Singh that though he made a mistake by making such an offer but a
promise is a promise and it has to be honoured by his son as the father expects
sons to honour his word. Charan Singh was hesitant at first but in the end he
agreed to do what his father told him and left behind his parents’ love and
affection, his native village, relatives and friends and of course his
sweet-heart and accompanied Noor Muhammad to Pakistan where they settled in
Lyallpur (now Faisalabad).
Noor
Muhammad could not settle himself financially in Pakistan and because of this,
his adopted son who was now called “Manzoor”, could not complete his education.
In order to help Noor Muhammad, Manzoor started to work early to supplement the
family’s income. Now he is a Pakistani but memories of his parents, his native
village, friends and relatives, and of course, his sweetheart still torment
him. These afflictions and agonies made him a poet who is now famous and
popular in Pakistan and is known as "Manzoor Jugnoo". Now after such
a long time, neither Maan Singh nor Noor Muhammad are alive but Charan
Singh/Manzoor Jugnoo is still living up to the word of honour given by his
father. People like Master Maan Singh no longer walk our earth.
Another
area where media should highlight is the interfaith, inter community and inter
religion marriages. In fact we must celebrate such weddings. We must celebrate
such unions. Nation should honor such couples.
Our country is the best e.g. of interfaith people living under one roof.
That’s why our founding fathers enshrined in the constitution the word Secular. The secular nature of our
country makes it more viable to live in. Unfortunately it’s the politics of
vote bank in India that does not allow the secular temperament to flourish. So
we need to work on to change the political system in order to ensure that the
Secular nature survives. Though the private broadcasters are doing their bit to
clean the system still the lure of breaking news and TRP ratings downgrades
their Credibility Quotient.
(Part 4 coming up next week ......Ethical guidelines in Multi cultural societies)
Part 4
Ethical
guidelines in multi cultural societies
Up till now my focus was what media should do to promote
Interfaith Dialogue. Now I would like to highlight what media should not do or
be careful to ensure that interfaith harmony is not destroyed in the lure to
capture eye balls. ……
In order
to gain TRP’s and to lure audiences and viewers, private broadcasters are doing
more harm than good to the society. In their hurry to “break news” the
broadcasters are breaking all the norms and ethics.
The
uncontrolled influence of the abysmally
low credibility quotient of Private News TV channels have a demoralizing effect
on people as a result of their undue exposure to the sex, sensationalism, violence &
bloodshed through their day-to-day
exposure.
Currently, the total number of TV News channels being beamed into Indian homes
is over 500, and at least 100 more are in the queue.
The story is simple. There will be more media than before. So, we are
likely to be more fragmented. Civil society requires shared information or
common knowledge in order to function effectively and democratically. When
differentiation and fragmentation arise in society, common knowledge is lost.
Anything uncommon among the citizens will lead to further divide, more chaos,
more confusion, and more disintegration.
When channels proliferate the mixed network vanishes. In its place the
specialist network, or the niche channels viz. sports, films, news, music,
wildlife, shopping etc. come alive. Whereas the mixed network emphasizes what
viewers have in common, the single-issue channel emphasizes, what separates
them from others. This situation is extremely alarming, when among the news
channels there is a further fragmentation of viewers and audiences.
Junk food journalism is the norm of the day. In the words of the
erstwhile minister of I&B, Mr. Jaipal Reddy, “Media has more reach, but
less credibility now.” Blaming it on the trivialization, glamorization,
sensationalism, the minister felt that media barons have the dreadful
combination of influence and affluence.
At a
seminar held last year, at a Mumbai college, on media ethics, panelists and
students of Mass Communication expressed their dismay at the growing
trivialization of the news media and developments such as sting operations. The
students were particularly anxious about the ethical compromises they feared
they would have to make as a journalist.
Let’s
take the example of the news channel, India T.V., which was born in March 2005
out of a scandal. The scandal was the telecast of the sting operation conducted
in Bollywood on the casting couch. Why was the nation eavesdropping on the
sexual escapades of a debauched actor on a Sunday afternoon? Didn’t they have
anything better to do? In the words of the film director Mahesh Bhatt,
“Scandals fascinate nearly everyone. The more respectful the victim, the
juicier is the gossip. In order to conform to their own sense of virtue the
public doesn’t mind becoming peeping toms. In fact it relishes it. To put it
simply, one man’s tragedy is another man’s’ entertainment.”
Most of the news channels believe in the phrase…more loyal than the
King. Also seen is the fact that they do not have respect for the dead. We all
remember 9/11, but how many of us remember seeing the faces of dead Americans,
none of us. That’s because, not a single dead body was exposed to the T.V.
camera. But we all remember the mutilated dead bodies of our countrymen at
Akshardham, when the terrorists struck there, with all the gory details shown
vividly on our news channels. That’s why I say they seem to be more loyal that
the king.
The private
broadcaster doesn’t realize that by showing the dead faces they are not only
disrespecting the dead but also creating hatred between the communities in this
country, as riots and terrorist attacks have the power to cause such rifts.
The media must avoid derogatory or pejorative reference to an
individual, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation or to any physical
or mental illness or disability. This means for e.g. a journalist reporting a
crime story should not mention the racial, religion or ethnic origin of a
suspect except when the police have provided a description of a particular
wanted criminal.
( Part 5 Concluding part..summarize media’s role in promoting the Brand Interfaith & peace)
Part 5
In the end let me summarize media’s role in promoting the
Brand Interfaith & peace
1. Develop program and
activities to encourage a more socially responsible media,
with regard to
intercultural and interfaith issues.
2. Work in partnership
with the organizers of existing media awards to include an
΄Intercultural and
Interfaith Award΄ category for those who display exemplary media
social responsibility.
3. Encourage the media to
promote events related to intercultural and interfaith issues.
4. Establish partnerships
between youth organizations and the media in organizing a
‘Youth & Media Week’
to promote intercultural and interfaith dialogue; the program
should include
exhibitions, cultural performances, live interactive talk shows and workshops.
5. Conduct exchange
program for young reporters that focus on the promotion of
Peace through responsible
media coverage.
6. Establish a network
linking university newsletters.
7. Promote peace by
training young journalists in intercultural and interfaith sensitivity.
8. Maximize use of free
electronic media to publicize the message of intercultural and
Interfaith dialogue.
9. Encourage young people
to create interactive blogs and online forums, and involve diverse stakeholders to provide them with the
necessary support.
10. Organize campaigns to
promote the dissemination of intercultural and interfaith information through
media
11. Encourage young people
to deliver intercultural and interfaith messages through pen pal projects.
