JEDDAH: The media has a duty to report news conscientiously and ensure human values are safeguarded — this was the conclusion of a media seminar organized by Risala Study Circle, the Gulf unit of the Kerala Sunni Students Federation (SSF).
Participants at the seminar, which was organized to mark 25 years of the publication of their weekly organ “Risala,” said the fourth estate has a duty to culturally, socially and politically guide society.
N.M. Muhammad Sadique Saqafi, SSF’s Kerala state committee vice chairman, delivered a paper on the “Media’s Role in Creating Social Awareness in Society.”
“Society also has the duty toward correcting the media when it deviates from its objectives. The media should correct society when it deviates from its values. It is a two-way role,” he said.
He added that the media should not hide facts. “The media should stick to facts and report news objectively without any fear and favor,” he said.
The seminar was inaugurated by Siraj Wahab of Arab News who praised the positive role that Sheikh Aboobacker Ahmed (alias Kanthapuram A.P. Aboobacker Musliyar), secretary of the All India Jamiyyathul Ulema, is playing in improving the condition of Muslims in India.
“We need people like him to open channels of communication with people of other faiths to check the campaign against Islam,” Wahab said. He further paid tributes to Keralite Muslims for taking a lead at a time when Indian Muslims were experiencing difficulties. “Muslims in the rest of India will forever remain indebted to the Muslims of Kerala for providing religious, cultural and political leadership,” said Wahab.
There is a leadership crisis in the north but the south, and especially Kerala, has through dozens of quality newspapers and periodicals highlighted Muslim issues in a positive and constructive way,” he added.
Speakers at the seminar, which was well attended, also included Ibrahim Shamnad of Madhyamam daily, Usman Irumpuzhi of Amrita TV, Rafiq of Thejas Daily and freelance journalist Kunhi Mohammad Anchchavidi.
