The Head of Centre for African Studies, Inönu University, Turkey, Asst. Professor, Ismail Söylemez has said that the problem of visibility of the Islamic world in the media has been surmounted to a certain extent with the advent of internet and social media platforms.
The Turkish scholar made this disclosure while speaking at the ‘Islam and the Media’ Webinar (Series 1), organised by Rawshield PR Media, commemorating the second anniversary of Muslim News Nigeria.
The Webinar, themed; ‘Survival of Islamic Media Institutions: Reflections from Nigeria’, was attended by 400 participants from across the world while thousands of netizens watched it Live via the official Facebook page of Muslim News, Nigeria’s most authoritative Islamic newspaper.
The current situation of the media organisations in Africa especially Nigeria was discussed and the causes of Islamophobia in the media were also evaluated, and solutions to these situations were also ascertained at the virtual lecture that had in attendance erudite Muslim Scholars and Professionals in the media and journalism profession.
Dr Söylemez, who was an international guest speaker at the event, thanked the Publisher for extending invitation to him, saying that the problem of visibility of the Islamic world in the media has been overcome to a certain extent with the internet and social media platforms.
He emphasized that for this reason, the Muslim world has a potentially veritable tool to challenge western hegemony in International public opinion.
The Scholar advised Nigerian Muslims to utilize the power of the new media in projecting the Islamic interests if the old / traditional media (print and broadcast) are not ready to be fair and just in their reportage of Muslim news.
Dr Söylemez stated that the new media, unlike the old media, is not capital intensive, and can be explored to make up for the latter to change the narratives.
The Director indicated that it is possible to broadcast on television channels in Turkey such as TRT World and TRT Arabic for the international public.
He said Turkey’s international potential in the field of media and communication is at a level that could support all the Islamic world and suggested that they can establish TRT Swahili and TRT Hausa.
He urged Nigeria Muslims Journalists to form a social network both among themselves in the country and internationally in order to get necessary support.
Also, in terms of higher education in Turkey, he invited people who are interested in studying in Turkey to come to Inonu University since they have adequate facilities in the field of communication studies.
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