‘Virus Jihad’: The (mis)representation of Muslims during Covid -19 outbreak on Indian TV news channels

Coronavirus is still a major global concern. More than five million people have lost their lives in over 190 countries. No wonder it has been called a global pandemic. The deadly virus brought the best health care systems to their knees and pushed millions into poverty. However, the impact of the pandemic transcends health and economic sectors. The virus also contributed to damaging the social fabric in many societies where ethnic/racial divisions have been simmering for long. The pandemic, in such societies, became a tool of marginalization and demonization of minorities. Particularly, bigotry and Islamophobia (re)surfaced in public sphere and Muslims were found to be at the receiving end of a problem caused by a virus which does not have its own religious affiliations.

A key example of such phenomenon occurred in India – the largest democracy in the world and home to more than 200 million Muslims. A religious congregation in Delhi organized by Tablighi Jamaat - an Islamic organization with presence in more than 150 countries - found itself in the eye of a storm when some of its attendees tested Covid positive. Each case of infection associated with the event became a media referendum on Muslims and Islam in the country. Muslim attendees were characterized as ‘super spreaders’ working on a ‘sinister plot’ to undermine India’s efforts in battling Covid-19.

Against this backdrop, this study focuses of TV debates on Indian news channels related to the religious congregation and examines the representation of Muslims on the shows. For that, more than 670 hours of news debate content from 27 episodes broadcasted on two of the most watched news channels have been selected for the study. Particularly, the monologues of influential TV anchors are analysed for mapping the media narrative. A qualitative thematic discourse analysis is conducted to obtain a comprehensive view of the nature of media discourse during the outbreak. Preliminary findings suggest a prevalence of Islamophobic connotations in the media discourse. Both overt and covert references are made to question the allegiance of minorities towards the country. Broadly, Muslims are characterized as ‘threats’, and ‘traitors’- also reflecting the socio-political environment of India currently ruled by unapologetic hyper-nationalists.

Rooted in framing as its theoretical framework and using Islamophobia and ethnic nationalism as its conceptual framework, this pioneering study makes several contributions. First, the study makes a significant and timely contribution to the on-going debate on an intra-Asian bigotry by providing empirical evidence from India. Second, the study fills the literature gap by focusing on the hitherto under researched concept of monologues in the context of journalism studies. Third, the study also makes an original contribution by approaching the issue of Islamophobia and media from an ethno nationalistic (Hindu nationalism) perspective – a point of departure from studies mostly conducted in the context of Western societies in which such cultural churning may or may not be taking place.