Fair representation: Giving minorities their due in the media

Participants discuss ways to counter extremist narratives.

ISLAMABAD:

Not only are hawkish speakers getting more time and space in the media, coverage of minorities has been limited to when they come under attack.

Participants of a dialogue on Monday observed that moderate and liberal voices either were given limited space on news channels.

The dialogue, “Media and the case of missing minorities,” was organised by Pakistan Education and Development (Pead) Foundation to find ways to counter the growing trend, which was held at a local hotel.

Pead Foundation Executive Director Sameena Imtiaz said not even the majority got due time or space in the media. “The media has the power to change the narrative and must play a role in promoting religious harmony and tolerance. “Representatives from minority communities are rarely included in national debates,” she remarked, adding that day by day conservative and right-wing narratives were taking over the media landscape.

The participants also pointed out that political parties and political representatives of minorities in the assemblies were not doing enough to promote their cause which was another reason for low coverage of minority issues.

PTV anchorperson Waqas Mujeeb Khan suggested reviewing the curriculum to promote tolerance, training of media personnel to improve coverage of minorities and better representation of minorities in the legislature. “We could quote verses from the Quran related to peace, tolerance and co-existence,” he suggested.

Former Daily Times and Pakistan Today editor Rana Qaiser stated that the term minorities should not be used for marginalised people. “By calling them a minority we are compartmentalising them and making them prone to attacks or abuse.” Fauzia Shahid, also a journalist, said over time professional ethics were ignored right after partition in 1947.

Hameed Gondal from Pead commented that even the government’s aggregate, three per cent, contradicts the minorities’ claim that they make up six per cent of the population.

The participants agreed that the media could do more to highlight issues of minorities to sensitise society for a peaceful coexistence.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 1^st, 2014.