The media, as readers can see, plays a key role in this process of creating public opinion through sensational and communally charged stories.
Of late, ‘Maulana’ Shahabuddin Razvi Bareilvi, who claims to be the president of the All India Muslim Jamaat, has emerged as a favourite of several mainstream media channels by dint of his consistency in making controversial statements.
Alt News ran a deep-dive investigation tracking Razvi’s comments and uncovered a pattern in how news channels used his statements to manufacture news, drive news cycles and spur communal debates. The chronology is as follows:
- Initial contact: News agencies cover Shahabuddin Razvi Bareilvi’s controversial remarks. This makes it a topic of discussion.
- Sensationalization through tweets: News agencies then tweet Bareilvi’s statement to ensure it gets circulated quickly. This leads to social media users resharing and reacting to it.
- Reaction by politicians: News agencies approach religious leaders and members of various political parties to cover their reactions to Bareilvi’s statement and further sensationalize the issue.
- Syndicated feed gets used by media outlets: The statement is then distributed to syndicated media partners, further increasing its reach across various platforms. This makes it a trending topic of discussion and guarantees wide circulation.
- Prime-time programmes/debates: The remarks become a hot topic in prime-time TV debates/programmes, where news channels invite so-called religious experts and politicians to discuss Bareilvi’s comments. This often fuels further polarization
Once, the debates and ‘news’ cycles born out of contentious remarks by the self-proclaimed ‘Maulana’ acquire a life of their own, they shape newer narratives around the Muslim community, often presenting them in a poor light. The media, as readers can see, plays a key role in this process of creating public opinion through sensational and communally charged stories.
10/06/2025