Muslim News Nigeria set for 3rd Anniversary lecture, tackles ‘media framing of Muslims’
The management of Rawshield PR Media, Publishers of Muslim News Nigeria is set to hold its 3rd Anniversary Lecture, with the theme; ‘Curbing Negative Media Framing of Muslims: Best Approaches’.
In a statement signed by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the media outfit, Mallam Rasheed Abubakar, the Anniversary Lecture would be combined with an Award Presentation Ceremony to recipients of the Muslim Personalities of the Year Award #MNAwards2020.
He said: “Early in 2021, Nigeria’s most authoritative Islamic newspaper announced some achievers in Nigeria and across the world as Muslim Personalities of the Year 2020 in law, medicine, finance, media and entertainment (sports), with President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Nigeria’s Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami emerging overall winners.”
According to Abubakar, “Muslim News Nigeria clocked 3 years on the 18th of August, 2021. For us, it’s been three years of painstaking and resourceful reporting of Islam as well as the affairs of Muslims in Nigeria and across the Muslim world.
“To commemorate this feat, Rawshield PR Media would be holding a combined 3rd Anniversary Lecture and Award Presentation Ceremony at a virtual/physical event that will hold on Saturday, September 18 at the Old Secretariat Mosque Hall, GRA, Ikeja.
“The event will be dedicated to dissecting best approaches to media framing of Muslims”, he said.
The statement noted that media is a very powerful tool for communication. It is so powerful that many non-Muslims in Nigeria and the rest of the (Western) world know what they know about Islam (perception) largely from what they read in the media.
Read Also: The dangers and evils of envy (Hasad) in society
“So, anytime they see terrorists killing people while screaming Allahu Akbar, they erroneously believe that’s Islam. Their definition of jihad is in reference to the nefarious activities of these terrorists, as propagated often times in the media.
“These are nothing but negative framing, because we often read and see more of the activities of this people who have stolen the identities of the real Muslims in the media. Whereas, little or nothing is being reported about the successes and achievements of Muslims who are making the Ummah proud in various fields of life”, he added.
The Publisher said the session which has as speakers, Muhamad Ali Harrath (Founder, Islam Channel, UK) and veteran Nigerian Journalist, Femi Abbas will dissect the long-lasting effects of the media framing on people’s perception.
“The invited lecturers, who are also media practitioners will walk the audience through the reportage of these sensitive and controversial matters by the media. They are also expected to suggest recommendations and solutions to media framing from Nigeria’s and global perspectives.”
It would be recalled that in 2020, the management of the newspaper marked the second year of reporting Islam with an inaugural Webinar, where Nigerian, Turkish and Arab panellists discussed the theme “Survival of Islamic Media Institutions: Reflections from Nigeria” and proffered workable solutions for the Ummah.
“This edition promises to be bigger than the previous, in shaa Allah,” Mallam Abubakar conclude in a statement.
