Mon 10 February 2020:
Indian TV anchors are in attack mode against critics of the ruling party. Plus, blackface in the Arab world.
On The Listening Post this week: “Terrorists”, “anti-nationals” – Indian TV anchors are in attack mode against critics of the ruling party. Plus the history of blackface in the Arab world.
Are the loudest voices on India’s airwaves normalising hate?
India is more than two months into a series of nationwide protests against a new citizenship law known as the CAA, the Citizenship Amendment Act.
The CAA makes it easier for migrants from religious minorities to get Indian citizenship – unless they are Muslims.
This is a political story in which the media are playing a central role. Much of the media has taken to amplifying the nationalistic, pro-Hindu rhetoric of the ruling party, the BJP – labelling protesters “anti-national”, implying that Muslims are inclined to spread terror – and, in the process, normalising hate speech and spreading it across their airwaves.
Contributors:
Kavita Krishnan – Secretary, All India Progressive Women’s Association
Mitali Saran – Author and columnist
Vineet Kumar – Author and media scholar
Aditya Raj Kaul – Strategic affairs editor, Business Television India
Sudhir Chaudhary – Editor-in-chief, Zee News
On our radar:
Richard Gizbert speaks to producer Flo Phillips about Donald Trump’s decision to award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to a controversial conservative talk show host, Rush Limbaugh.
Blackface: The ugliness of racism in Arab media
Blackface – the caricaturing of those of African descent using theatrical makeup is a supposed entertainment device from a bygone era.
Across much of the Western world, it no longer features in mainstream art or entertainment but in the Middle East, you do not have to go back in time to find it.
Blackface and caricatured depictions of black people still are broadcast there – and in most cases – they are not even seen as offensive.
The Listening Post’s Tariq Nafi looks at racism in Arab media and the persisting legacy of blackface.
Contributors:
Maha Abdul Hamid – Academic and activist
Eve Troutt Powell – Professor of Middle Eastern History, University of Pennsylvania
Joseph Fahim – Film critic
Fatima Ali – Activist, model and writer
Source: Al Jazeera News
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