Mass Media and Muslims in India: Representation or Subversion

In contemporary times no discussion on the "public sphere" is complete unless it takes into account the role of media in representing concerns of the citizens. The Media has become an extremely important institution, with almost unlimited power in today's society. It initiates debates, facilitates dialogue, and shapes public consciousness. It is within this spectrum that this paper attempts to examine the role of metropolitan dailies in highlighting the concerns of a minority community—Muslims in this case—and in assimilating them in the mainstream society. The paper presents a content analysis of the coverage given to the rape case of a Muslim woman in the mainstream print media. The objective of this paper is to look at questions like: What was the priority and "news-space" accorded to the particular incident in national dailies? Whether the incident deserved such coverage or was it blown out of proportion deliberately? Whether the coverage was objective or was it just another practice of news feeding exercise? What were newspapers' intentions? Does the Indian media represent the interests of the Muslim community or just to portray a subverted image of the community? These and related questions are examined in the light of the case study of Imrana that made the national headlines.