It has been a month of conflicts over Freedom of Speech and
Freedom of expression which has created a buzz around the world. May it be a mockery of Freedom of expression or Hate Speech
the recent events have depicted a picture of the world using freedom as a tool to make their own way and when it is
seen in the context of media it distinctly exposes the bias nature of today’s
media, both Electronic and Print media.Recent news that shocked mostly the
Muslim world was an Anti-Islam movie made by Anti-Islam American director Sam
Bacile aka Nakoula, which mocked and insulted highly respected Prophet of
Islam, Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH). As its repercussion, the Muslims of Libya attacked the
US Ambassador there but according to some sources,
it is the terrorist attack and nothing to do with anti-Islam movie protest.
Some media sources have written it as the cause of Arab spring and some termed
it as Islamic extremism But the Anti-Islam movie is neither termed as wrong or
insulting by western media as well as Indian media too rather than writing it
as a right to freedom of speech and termed Muslims as intolerant and can’t take
criticism.
Though some honest journalists exposed the truth like,
Robert Fisk, Famous Senior journalist, writes in ‘The Independent’, -
“The provocateurs, of course, know that politics and
religion don’t mix in the Middle East.
It only needs a couple of loonies to kick off a miniature
war in the Muslim world within seconds.
There’s the rub, of course. Some things are off limits, and
rightly so. Others have no limits at all.”
These few lines of his article tells the deep truth which is
being deliberately hidden by America as after the trailer of the movie was
restricted or banned in Libya and other Islamic countries, America is still
reluctant and don’t want to restrict it in their country So when They are
supporting the perpetrators of a heinous crime (yes, it’s a crime when anything
provokes violence and insult symbol of any religion) then what is the problem
when the flags of US are burned and Anti-US protest smoking out around the
world.
Another senior journalist of India, Syed Hassan Kazim wrote-
“The way these people are in a habit of making a mockery of Freedom of speech is something which
can never be accepted. Every freedom brings with itself a sense of
responsibility which must be respected. Freedom doesn’t mean anarchy (to insult
or mock anyone at will through lies and fabricated stories).”
So being free does not mean that you have the right to
insult and degrade symbol of any religion. It’s not a conflict of Christians and Muslims as some can interpret, it is the
deliberate attempt to incite tension among Muslims and show the Islam as a
violent religion. Here comes out a point
that why Indian print media is also favoring America on emphasizing the attack
on US ambassador rather than the crime committed by the makers of the movie.
This type of favored coverage can lead to the ‘Media Bias’ the term coined by
the Media experts itself.
Some Media-persons and Journalists are politically
conservative and due to which Our Print media writes in favor of Power oriented
people as Government in power, Businessmen, an Imperialist
nation like America as Our media is also highly influenced and depended on
them.
Now news is ‘made’ and
sometimes created as a fictional movie. Now bias of news and information
related to Bureaucrats, Celebrities, and
Corporate who also own media companies are a trend. One has to make a ‘story’
out of anything and present it as news. It is the case of news television media
but in Print media we can read articles which can mislead masses, which has
false information with baseless facts. Mainly the news related to World gives
preference to America and Britain than other countries, Even if western media
mock our Prime Minister by calling him Underachiever or ineffective Print media
praise West by terming as freedom of speech. Western media show double standard
and unfortunately, it is adopted by
Indian media too. Media should not be politically driven though it is true that
sometimes circumstances make that happen.
The point here is, why print media promotes those biased
articles which have distorted and false facts as well as forged news, why
powerful people are preferred over the decent one, why these days mockery of
religions (mainly Islam) is at a high
point and portrayed in wrong light?
The answer to these questions lies in understanding the
difference between free and liberal. When we don’t define any limit to freedom
and scale a certain boundary we can’t claim right to express and speak, Hate
speech or deliberately insulting stuff or targeting a group with malice have no
place under freedom of expression. The media today carry lies than Truth and
are prejudiced. If we try to be liberal and just show, write and express Truth
and never manipulate it, we can then have the right to express and speak.
