In this season of the podcast, we will be focusing on different regions of the world and explore how language, and usage of certain words, in media reportage by journalists have a much deeper impact on the narrative formation and shaping of the sensibilities of the public. We will be delving deeper into journalism cultures in different parts of the world and how they function.
In the fourth and final episode of our podcast we are talking about West Asia. which mainstream media refers to as the Middle East. The term “Middle East” was used and brought into everyday vocabulary by the british colonialist, look at the world, the map, the geography from where they stand. This term has hence found its way into our everyday language, journalism, and reportage. Through the course of this episode, we try and look at the larger narrative of islamophobia that has been wrongly perpetrated not just by the media but through different aspects of language and power. We dig deeper into several islamophobic stereotypes in media and how that has affected what gets reported and how, especially given the current sociopolitical situation and the war on the Palestinian people.
is a journalist originally from Raqqa, in Syria, and is currently based in France. His career as a journalist-activist began at the time of the Syrian revolution in 2011. He mainly covers investigative topics related to the violations committed by the Assad regime and the armed militias in Syria as writes and reports for various international media organisations, including Mediapart, Arte, and BBC.
Producer: Shriya Roy
Host: Shriya Roy
Concept: Shriya Roy
In this season of the podcast, we will be focusing on different regions of the world and explore how language, and usage of certain words, in media reportage by journalists have a much deeper impact on the narrative formation and shaping of the sensibilities of the public. We will be delving deeper into journalism cultures in different parts of the world and how they function.
In our third episode, our focus is on Africa. Through the course of this episode, we try to explore the stereotypes and the constant western gaze that is often seen in mainstream media’s reportage of the region and problems with homogenisation of an entire continent in the language of reportage.
Caleb Okereke. Caleb is the Co-founder and Managing Editor of Minority Africa, a digital publication using data-driven multimedia journalism to tell minority stories from across Africa. He is a Nigerian journalist and filmmaker working out of Kampala, Uganda, and has written and produced features for the BBC, CNN, Aljazeera, NPR, and Deutsche Welle. As a journalist, he has extensively reported from eastern and western Africa. He is a 2019 Media Challenge Fellow, One World Media fellow, and a Solutions Journalism Network, LEDE fellow as well.
Producer: Shriya Roy
Host: Shriya Roy
Concept: Shriya Roy
In this season of the podcast, we will be focusing on different regions of the world and explore how language, and usage of certain words, in media reportage by journalists have a much deeper impact on the narrative formation and shaping of the sensibilities of the public. We will be delving deeper into journalism cultures in different parts of the world and how they function.
In our second episode, we are talking about South Asia. Through the course of this episode, we try and unpack several existing ideas and language stereotypes. We look at the problems of language usage when talking about South Asia as a region, and the importance of local language media in the region. We also explore the lack of cross-border journalism, especially between India and Pakistan, and how that impacts the free flow of credible information.
Joining us on this episode are Hamza Amin and Fatima Razzaq.
Hamza is a journalist from Pakistan and is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Vienna, Austria. He is researching the interchange between culture, politics, and journalistic identities. He is also the co- Founder of 9 News, which is Pakistan’s first news aggregation service. Hamza is also an active member of the Vienna Hub of the Global Shapers Community, an initiative of the World Economic Forum, which connects young leaders passionate about driving social impact.
Fatima is an nvestigative journalist based in Pakistan who works at Lok Sujag, an alternate digital media platform that works for highlighting issues often ignored by mainstream media. She covers human rights with a special focus on religious minorities and gender issues. She has done extensive investigative work on forced religious conversions of Christain and Hindu girls, acid attacks in Pakistan, reporting on gender based violence.
Producer: Shriya Roy
Host: Shriya Roy
Concept: Shriya Roy
In this season of the podcast, we will be focusing on different regions of the world and explore how language, and usage of certain words, in media reportage by journalists have a much deeper impact on the narrative formation and shaping of the sensibilities of the public. We will be delving deeper into journalism cultures in different parts of the world and how they function.
In our first episode, we are talking about Latin America, digging deeper into the language stereotypes that mainstream Western media propagates of unstable governments, drugs, violence, and all things wrong.
Joining us on this episode is Dánae Vílchez. She is a Nicaraguan multimedia journalist who has extensively covered social movements and conflicts in the region and has rallied for media democracy. She has been a fellow with the International Center for Journalists and the International Women’s Media Foundation and has written for The Washington Post, Newsweek, and Pikara Magazine, among others. She is currently working with the Committee to Protect Journalists as their Central America Correspondent and also works with Open Democracy.
Producer: Shriya Roy
Host: Shriya Roy
Concept: Shriya Roy
In a world that is moving at a bullet-train pace toward globalisation, understanding the importance of journalism and the words that we use when reporting on events becomes non-negotiable. Journalistic cultures differ across borders, and often it all gets bracketed into one umbrella guided by the Western gaze.
In this podcast, we try and demystify this very idea and try and get to the crux of the language debate. This first season of our podcast looks to explore how media reports about certain countries or regions around the world, and how words and terminology used to talk about those regions impact the larger understanding of the regions, and very often perpetuate misinformed stereotypes. We will be delving deeper into journalism cultures away from the West, in different parts of the world, looking at how they function and why giving equal importance to local newsrooms and journalists is significant!
Producer: Shriya Roy
Host: Shriya Roy
Concept: Shriya Roy