Turkey, Pakistan and Malaysia aim to counter Islamophobia with new TV outlet

Turkey, Pakistan and Malaysia agreed on Wednesday to jointly launch an English-language television channel to promote a Muslim-friendly narrative in an effort to counter Islamophobia, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said in a tweet after the countries’ leaders met in New York. 

“(Turkish) President (Recep Tayyip) Erdoğan, (Malaysian) PM Mahatir (bin Mohammad) and myself had a meeting today in which we decided our 3 countries would jointly start an English language channel dedicated to confronting the challenges posed by Islamophobia and setting the record straight on our great religion -- Islam,” Khan announced late Thursday. 

Lodhi Maleeha, the Pakistani Ambassador to the UN, confirmed the deal. “The three leaders agreed to promote the narrative of Muslims to counter Islamophobia and to cooperate in the area of film and also establish a joint TV channel,” she said in a Wednesday evening tweet. 

At a UN event on Wednesday, Erdoğan said hate speech was the tool most frequently used to spread anti-Muslim sentiment and xenophobia, adding that politicians had helped normalise such views. "It is a huge slander, immorality, to bring Islam, a religion of peace, together with terrorism,” he said. 

In his speech to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, Erdoğan expressed his wish that March 15th, the day of the deadly attacks on mosques in New Zealand earlier this year, be named International Day of Solidarity Against Islamophobia. 

No details were provided on the channel’s expected launch date, but Khan did provide some information on content.  

“Misperceptions which bring people together against Muslims would be corrected; issue of blasphemy would be properly contextualised; series & films would be produced on Muslim history to educate/inform our own people & the world; Muslims would be given a dedicated media presence,” he said in a follow-up tweet.