Political comments on Islam and communication I
Abstract
Political comments on Islam and communication I Waseem Sajjad CHAIRMAN OF THE SENATE, GOVERNMENT OF PAKISTAN, ISLAMABAD What are your views on the representation of the Islamic world in the West? Is this entirely undifferentiated? Is there any substance in the thesis that Islam is replacing communism as a perceived threat among Western foreign policy elites? The Islamic world is poorly represented in the West in terms of press and media coverage. Language problems, the absence of developed news agencies with international networks, and inadequate or biased reporting by some of the reporters and analysts from the West contribute to this poor representation. An attempt was made by the Organisation of the Islamic Conference to establish an Islamic News Agency for better dissemination of information about the Muslim countries, but unfortunately the Agency never took off. There are many factors contributing to biased or inadequate reporting by some of the Western reporters and analysts. Some bias comes from the historical animosities arising out of the Crusades, the Ottoman domination of Eastern Europe till the First World War, active Muslim participation in the War of Independence in 1857 in India against British occupation, and more recently due to Zionist