Kuwait Media Conference: An attempt to challenge the Western media monopoly, Islam and the Media, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam and the Media

Kuwait Media Conference: An attempt to challenge the Western media monopoly

April 27, 2010 New Age Islam News Bureau

The Arab media which has been under state control for ages has taken its first step to break free. A conference of the Arab media is going to be held in which 200 journalists will participate and discuss the strategy to meet the challenges posed by the Western mass media and technology. Journalists and media personalities from almost all the big Arabic and English newspapers and TV channels have started deliberations to explore new avenues to face the new world order and new challenges.

The conference was inaugurated by the Prime Minister of Kuwait Sheikh Nasir Al Muhammad Al Sabah. Speaking on this occasion the speakers echoed the view that the western media had the monopoly on the news and most of the time they distort or change the facts or make it sensational to suit their political interests.

Apart from the journalists, the conference is being attended by the cultural and information ministers of Saudi Arab, Oman, UAE, and Bahrain as well. Kuwait is the first Arab country which does not control the media and now other countries have started lifting controls from the media and have given them freedom of expression on cultural, social and economic issues.

Al Jazeerah TV has brought about a powerful revolution in Arab media and is presenting news on political happenings, situations and changes in a more aggressive way.

http://newageislam.com/kuwait-media-conference--an-attempt-to-challenge-the-western-media-monopoly/islam-and-the-media/d/2763

رواں صدی میں مسلمانوں کی ترجیحات کیا ہوں؟, Urdu Section, NewAgeIslam.com

Urdu Section

رواں صدی میں مسلمانوں کی ترجیحات کیا ہوں؟

In this attempt, first of all, the Muslims should try to find out the reasons for their tragic condition. How and why have they been degraded to such a low-level as to remain an undeveloped and unstable community, whereas other communities of the world have succeeded even in harming them? Why are the Muslims lagging behind and have remained backward educationally, financially and politically? Other communities, who were the victim of impoverishment, lifted their status and raised themselves to greater heights.

Obviously, there are certain reasons for Muslim backwardness – the greatest of all is that they have lagged behind in education, research and technology. On the other hand, other communities especially the western communities pulled their socks up, continued their struggle for all-round progress and succeeded in their hardy endeavour, obtaining notable successes in financial, political and cultural fields as well as in defence and science and technology. The economy of the western countries is quite strong; so the American dollar and the European euro are enjoy greater standing throughout the world. This gives them an upper hand in the international trade market; their products sell like hot cakes everywhere in the world making their currencies more valuable than others.

http://newageislam.com/urdu-section/رواں-صدی-میں-مسلمانوں-کی-ترجیحات-کیا-ہوں؟/d/1604

Polluting Kashmir: Saudi Arabia Exports Salafism to the Region, Islam and Sectarianism, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam and Sectarianism

Polluting Kashmir: Saudi Arabia Exports Salafism to the Region

by Tariq Mir

We sat on plastic garden chairs inside his makeshift library of Islamic jurisprudence and history. Books lay in heaps on the floor and on shelves running the length of the walls. A book on the Saudi royal family was displayed proudly. I asked him why Salafism was suddenly gaining popularity in Kashmir. “Before, we didn’t have the support that we have now,” he said. The Saudis provide free literature to anyone who cares to read, and they distribute the Salafi message over the Web, cell phones, and satellite television. One popular video clip shows Tauseefur Rehman, a Salafi cleric in Pakistan, attired in the style of a Saudi sheikh and calling for the implementation of Islamic law in all Muslim societies—a perfect synthesis of strict, old-time religion and modern technology.

http://www.newageislam.com/islam-and-sectarianism/tariq-mir/polluting-kashmir--saudi-arabia-exports-salafism-to-the-region/d/7247