[Natashasuw]

how about The Milli Gazette is it good too?

I got this link by mail.. read on..


http://www.indianexpress.com/news/sh...o-die/888226/0


Should Milli Gazette be allowed to die?

Its office is tucked away in a corner of one of the many narrow, decrepit lanes of Abu Fazl Enclave, Jamia Nagar, Delhi. Anyone can walk easily into the office, which has no signboard and is situated inside an an old house with a low-rise iron gate. Inside, there are cartons full of newspapers strewn carelessly, lots of books, and people working on old computers.

The nondescript workspace, though, belies the voice of 'Milli Gazette', an English-language fortnightly, which is often quoted by various publications, including international ones such as 'The Guardian', in news stories about India's Muslims. But very soon, though, the newspaper's fate may match that of its workspace. In a recent edition, the 'Milli Gazette' had its first page almost blank, with a column on the side lamenting that not enough Muslims, whose “side of the story” it tells, have supported it by way of subscriptions, and appealing to the community to keep subscribing to the paper, or else, “all pages of MG may look blank as this one”.

'Milli Gazette' was started by Zafar-ul-Islam Khan, a journalist from Azamgarh (in a sarcastic tone, he tells us he's from “Atankgarh” when we ask him about his origins) in January 2000, when the BJP was the ruling party at the Centre, and “there was a lot of Islamophobia around”

“We needed to tell our side of the story,” he said, though he admits that, for Muslims, getting into the mainstream, non-Urdu media, has “been a very, very old idea, not much realised even today”. Eleven years on, MG too seems to be not able to realise that idea. “We've been incurring losses since we began, and we've reached the limit now,” says Khan. So, are they shutting down? “If things go on this way, we might,” he says.

'Milli Gazette' is located in Jamia Nagar, a sprawling and ever-growing Muslim-dominated locality, occupying a major part of south-east Delhi. Its target readers, we'd think, stay in its vicinity. But the many Muslims living in the area, specially the youth who study in Jamia Millia Islamia University, also located in Jamia Nagar, are ironically not the target readers of MG. “Did you know that the top heads of the Indian state as well as the top cops of the Delhi Police subscribe to us? They are our target readers. It is they whom we want to tell about what the ordinary Muslim is going through, and be able to affect their attitude towards the community,” says Khan.

The target readership explains Milli Gazette's news content, which largely revolves around communal riots such as those that took place in Rudrapur and Ujjain recently, the plight of Muslims arrested after terror blasts, such as those in Malegaon, the policies of Narendra Modi and the RSS and criticism of the US and Israel.

The 32-page newspaper, priced at Rs 10 since it began, is a heavy, tiring head, and you'd wish the seriousness of the content was tempered by some cultural, social news. Surely, news about Muslim community doesn't have to be synonymous with riots, terror and anti-Americanism.

“But these are the facts of our times. How many have our children lost the prime of their youth by being arrested after every terror act, tortured, forced to confess to a crime they didn't commit, and then released 8-10 years later for want of evidence?” says Khan, with a passion which has made him stay put, despite the losses. Such reportage, which often questions the State, has put Khan and his team of 14 reporters at risk. “Our reporter in Indore was threatened by the police when he inquired about the arrest of a Muslim youth after the riots there, and then, I, too, frequently get threats over phone and e-mail,” says Khan.

Khan believes that Milli Gazzette's fierce reportage of riots and harassment of Muslims after terror blasts has 'mellowed down' the rhetoric that follows a terror act. “Now, the government explores the possible involvement of terror groups belonging to another faith too, without immediately concluding that it is the handiwork of Islamists,” he says, adding that NGOs -- local and international, such as Human Rights Watch -- have visited their office for information related to riots.

Though 'Milli Gazette' has had an “impact” on its 'target readership', it still fails in drawing mass readers, which can sustain the newspaper. Circulation figures are 'too low' for Khan to reveal them to us, but online readership more than makes up for the embarrassment. “We have an estimated combined readership of 5 lakh per issue, online and offline, with a very large percentage coming from online visitors,” he says. Of course, reading stories on the website is offered free of cost, unlike the case with the newspaper, which Muslims 'hardly support'.

“Do you see how many mosques and madarsas are in Jamia Nagar? Is there a need for so many of them? Muslims only want to contribute to religious causes, such as building mosques and madarsas, sometimes right in front of their homes. Of course, it's their right to do so, but they overdo it and ignore social causes, such as spreading community news,” Khan explains.

Even the businessmen aren't supportive, with just one company subscribing to the fortnightly, and almost none advertising in it (the ads on the website are only those by Google). “They fear being associated with a paper that focuses on riots and terror cases,” says Khan. That fear is also shared by vendors, who refuse to sell the paper at their stalls. Khan says he's tried in vain -- even given 'several kilos of laddoos' -- to vendors in Connaught Place, and other well-frequented parts of Delhi -- but no one wants to sell this paper, he says.


wa assalam

[thighikergove]

Dr76, I'm subscribing to it tomorrow and I'm going to get 2 more subscriptions in the coming week. for the report, very very useful.

I got this link by mail.. read on..


http://www.indianexpress.com/news/sh...o-die/888226/0


Should Milli Gazette be allowed to die?

Its office is tucked away in a corner of one of the many narrow, decrepit lanes of Abu Fazl Enclave, Jamia Nagar, Delhi. Anyone can walk easily into the office, which has no signboard and is situated inside an an old house with a low-rise iron gate. Inside, there are cartons full of newspapers strewn carelessly, lots of books, and people working on old computers.

The nondescript workspace, though, belies the voice of 'Milli Gazette', an English-language fortnightly, which is often quoted by various publications, including international ones such as 'The Guardian', in news stories about India's Muslims. But very soon, though, the newspaper's fate may match that of its workspace. In a recent edition, the 'Milli Gazette' had its first page almost blank, with a column on the side lamenting that not enough Muslims, whose “side of the story” it tells, have supported it by way of subscriptions, and appealing to the community to keep subscribing to the paper, or else, “all pages of MG may look blank as this one”.

'Milli Gazette' was started by Zafar-ul-Islam Khan, a journalist from Azamgarh (in a sarcastic tone, he tells us he's from “Atankgarh” when we ask him about his origins) in January 2000, when the BJP was the ruling party at the Centre, and “there was a lot of Islamophobia around”

“We needed to tell our side of the story,” he said, though he admits that, for Muslims, getting into the mainstream, non-Urdu media, has “been a very, very old idea, not much realised even today”. Eleven years on, MG too seems to be not able to realise that idea. “We've been incurring losses since we began, and we've reached the limit now,” says Khan. So, are they shutting down? “If things go on this way, we might,” he says.

'Milli Gazette' is located in Jamia Nagar, a sprawling and ever-growing Muslim-dominated locality, occupying a major part of south-east Delhi. Its target readers, we'd think, stay in its vicinity. But the many Muslims living in the area, specially the youth who study in Jamia Millia Islamia University, also located in Jamia Nagar, are ironically not the target readers of MG. “Did you know that the top heads of the Indian state as well as the top cops of the Delhi Police subscribe to us? They are our target readers. It is they whom we want to tell about what the ordinary Muslim is going through, and be able to affect their attitude towards the community,” says Khan.

The target readership explains Milli Gazette's news content, which largely revolves around communal riots such as those that took place in Rudrapur and Ujjain recently, the plight of Muslims arrested after terror blasts, such as those in Malegaon, the policies of Narendra Modi and the RSS and criticism of the US and Israel.

The 32-page newspaper, priced at Rs 10 since it began, is a heavy, tiring head, and you'd wish the seriousness of the content was tempered by some cultural, social news. Surely, news about Muslim community doesn't have to be synonymous with riots, terror and anti-Americanism.

“But these are the facts of our times. How many have our children lost the prime of their youth by being arrested after every terror act, tortured, forced to confess to a crime they didn't commit, and then released 8-10 years later for want of evidence?” says Khan, with a passion which has made him stay put, despite the losses. Such reportage, which often questions the State, has put Khan and his team of 14 reporters at risk. “Our reporter in Indore was threatened by the police when he inquired about the arrest of a Muslim youth after the riots there, and then, I, too, frequently get threats over phone and e-mail,” says Khan.

Khan believes that Milli Gazzette's fierce reportage of riots and harassment of Muslims after terror blasts has 'mellowed down' the rhetoric that follows a terror act. “Now, the government explores the possible involvement of terror groups belonging to another faith too, without immediately concluding that it is the handiwork of Islamists,” he says, adding that NGOs -- local and international, such as Human Rights Watch -- have visited their office for information related to riots.

Though 'Milli Gazette' has had an “impact” on its 'target readership', it still fails in drawing mass readers, which can sustain the newspaper. Circulation figures are 'too low' for Khan to reveal them to us, but online readership more than makes up for the embarrassment. “We have an estimated combined readership of 5 lakh per issue, online and offline, with a very large percentage coming from online visitors,” he says. Of course, reading stories on the website is offered free of cost, unlike the case with the newspaper, which Muslims 'hardly support'.

“Do you see how many mosques and madarsas are in Jamia Nagar? Is there a need for so many of them? Muslims only want to contribute to religious causes, such as building mosques and madarsas, sometimes right in front of their homes. Of course, it's their right to do so, but they overdo it and ignore social causes, such as spreading community news,” Khan explains.

Even the businessmen aren't supportive, with just one company subscribing to the fortnightly, and almost none advertising in it (the ads on the website are only those by Google). “They fear being associated with a paper that focuses on riots and terror cases,” says Khan. That fear is also shared by vendors, who refuse to sell the paper at their stalls. Khan says he's tried in vain -- even given 'several kilos of laddoos' -- to vendors in Connaught Place, and other well-frequented parts of Delhi -- but no one wants to sell this paper, he says.


wa assalam