By Fatima Tanveer,
Congratulations to Muslim Mirror and its team of hardworking journalists for successfully completing five months of its journey during which it broke several news stories. The stories had impact. Some of the innocent persons, who were victimised by biased government agencies, received justice as also monetary compensation thanks to the stories covered by your portal read daily by thousands of people, mostly Indian Muslims, across the globe.
No one can deny that the portal is playing the role of a full-fledged English daily newspaper despite the lack of resources with it. With over 200 million Muslims spread in every corner of India, it is not a simple task to collect information about them and then disseminate it. But the Muslim Mirror in a short span of five months has been able to a large extent to meet the information requirement of the Indian Muslim intelligentsia. It is a matter of proud for all of us. The Muslim Mirror team really needs appreciation and encouragement for what it has achieved in this short time. If newspapers like The Hindu and The Indian Express, India’s leading English newspapers, are lifting story ideas from Muslim Mirror, in general and sometimes giving full credit to Muslim Mirror for the stories they publish in the prestigious newspapers , it is a great recognition and appreciation for Muslim Mirror indeed.
But simple verbal appreciation and encouragement is not enough to ensure sustainability of any project. Muslim Mirror is supplying the news pertaining to the community without any charge. No institution or a project can continue for long without monetary support. After all, journalists also require money to meet their own needs and those of their family. As the readers of the portal are not charged, there is not much income coming to the organisation. It is not possible at all to run an organisation for long when there is no regular income to meet increasing expenditure.
The major source of revenue for any print, electronic or internet-based media are its advertisements. So, I want to appeal the industrialists, traders and businesspersons of the community to support the Muslim Mirror by releasing their advertisements on this portal. The revenue generated would be a major guarantee to ensure the portal’s continuity and satisfy the community’s need to get informed of the latest developments happening about them, particularly in India.
If Muslim Mirror is doing its duty, let the community’s business houses and philanthropists also rise to the occasion and do their duty as well. It is possible that spending on ads on Muslim Mirror may not increase their businesses but their support would certainly ensure continuity of Muslim Mirror. And by helping dissemination of information, I believe they will be helping in empowerment of the community. The most powerful person in a knowledge-based society is one who is most informed and the same thing stands for a community as well.
I believe that the community will be responsible if Muslim Mirror fails on account of fund or revenue shortage. I know some very good portals and magazines on Muslim issues collapsed because of lack of continuous financial support. Muslim Mirror can maintain, improve its quality further and expand coverage only if it has funds available with it.
I pray Allah to help Muslim Mirror to discharge its responsibilities fearlessly and continuously.
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Fatima Tanveer is an author and freelance journalist based in Ahmedabad. Email address: fatimatanveer2008@gmail.com