By Shail Zakeer Hussain, TwoCircles.net,
Bengaluru: A book titled 'Media & Terror: Facts & Fiction', was released here on Saturday by the media wing of the Students Islamic Organisation of India (SIO), Karnataka.
Written by an assorted group of journalists, activists and lawyers, it analyses the media reportage of the now infamous ‘Karnataka Terror Module’ that hit national headlines, after six Muslim youths from Bangalore and five from Hubli were arrested by the Central Crime Branch (CCB) of Bangalore police on 29th August 2012.
The arrest that triggered massive news coverage with tens of stories highlighting the alleged plot and links to banned organisations, created a mass hysteria, with the media taking a lead in creating stories, and making masterminds out of accused, two of who were subsequently released with a clean chit and one released on bail.
According to its publishers, the book highlights "the general semantic problem of terror reporting by Indian media" and has no intention to incriminate any particular newspaper or channel for the reporting practice used in this and the other so-called 'terror' cases.
Speaking at the press conference, lawyer and human rights activist B T Venkatesh said, “Innocent people are kept in prison for no fault of theirs and let off after several months and years and their career’s are lost. The DRDO has asked one of the accused not to come to work even after he was released for not having prosecutable evidence.”
“I used to be proud of journalists earlier, but after the factitious reports started coming when I was arrested, my perception changed,” said, Muthi-ur-Rahman Siddiqui, the journalist at Deccan Herald who was falsely accused in the case, before being released after spending six months in prison. “Journalists should focus on accuracy, brevity and clarity, but the media today has forgotten accuracy,” he added.
Dr. Banjagere Jayaprakash, Writer, Bangalore, Prof. V.S. Sridhar, National Law College, Bangalore, Lawyers B.T. Venkatesh Bangalore, A.K. Kukkila, Editor, Sanmarga Weekly, Mangalore, Muthi-ur-Rahman Siddiqui, Journalist, Bangalore were present at the conference held at the Press Club Of Bangalore.