Indian icon ignored
On Monday 14th July 2003 Indian Cultural Icon Moean Mohammed,71, passed away after ailing for some time. The government awarded him the Hummingbird Gold Medal in 1973 for his contribution to the development of culture. A cultural pioneer in television and radio broadcasting, Mohammed was widely regarded as one of the legends in the Indian cultural field of Trinidad and Tobago. He played a pioneering role in the introduction of local Indian programmes on Trinidad and Tobago Television. The death of such an Indian icon went virtually unnoticed by the national media, government, and members of the national community. Since the passing of Moean Mohammed there has to date only been seven reports in the print media regarding Mohammed. The Newsday carried the initial report on the passing of Mohammed as well as a report on the funeral. The Newsday in fact was the only newspaper that reported that Moean had died. Another daily newspaper and a weekly newspaper each carried reports on the funeral. Buried within all three Sunday newspapers were commentaries on the contributions on Mohammed.
The media’s treatment of Mohammed’s death should be compared to that of a similar cultural icon Andre Tanker who died February 28th 2003. This content analysis comparison is not meant to diminish the contribution of Tanker but merely to highlight the media’s disparity of treatment of an Indian cultural icon and by extension, Indian culture. The death of Tanker saw over fifteen impressive reports on his death in the print media. Editors saw Tanker’s passing as worthy of front-page placement and extensive coverage in the electronic media. For example on Sunday 2nd March 2003 the Sunday Newsday’s bold front page headline was ‘Andre Tanker Dies.’ Even the events at Tanker’s funeral generated news worthy stories. On Friday 7th March, the nation read in the Newsday ‘Andre Tanker’s daughter cries: ‘I want my Daddy back.’ Fr Garfield Rochard’s statement at the funeral ‘politicians cannot unite Trinidad and Tobago and only artistes can harness the spirit of the people’ was carried by the media. Other newspapers reflected a similar coverage. Was the cry of Aruna Mohammed (Moean’s daughter) given similar coverage? The address by the Imam at Moen’s funeral went unreported in the national media. The address by Minister of Culture, Penelope Beckles, went unreported in the national media. Ironically the death of Popo (May 1st - 6th 2000) prompted Sundar Popo’s promoter to level similar claims of media bias when compared to coverage given to Kitchener (February 10th -15th 2000).
Mohammed’s contribution to Indian culture cannot be under represented. Mohammed began in the 1950s radio with ‘Indian Talent on Parade’ and 1962 went into television with ‘Indian Variety’ and later co-founded ‘Mastana Bahar.’ The latter of course was the training ground for many Indo-Trinidadian artistes. Mohammed is also associated with the development of the ‘chutney’ art form. Some persons even credit Moean with coining the phrase ‘chutney’. With ‘chutney’ music being accepted now as part of the national culture it is indeed bewildering as to why the media and others ignored the man who played an instrumental role in developing ‘chutney’. The lack of coverage on the death and life of Moean Mohammed by the Port-of-Spain media is consistent with their general attitude towards Indian culture in TT. Indian culture by the Port-of-Spain media is viewed and promoted as an exotic limited sub-culture of an insignificant section of the national community. It is irrelevant that approximately 49% of the national population is persons of Indian origin and this population has a need to see their culture on the national stage. Instead steelpan and calypso are projected alone as national culture ably assisted by a political directorate with no sympathies for the Indo-Trinidadian population. In this worldview of the Port-of-Spain media the Indian and Indian culture does not figure.
The role of the media in presenting a balanced view is critical and indeed deserving of constant monitoring to ensure balance. Trinidadians get much of their information about political, social and cultural activities through the media, giving the media an important agenda-setting role. Since media companies filter out information about certain political views and cultural activities as well as disseminating them, it is important for us to scrutinise what the media are saying and the influence the media has on the nation. The media has to be viewed as one of the reasons that Indian culture is still being relegated to a sub-culture and not part of the national culture. The responsiveness of a political system to the attitudes of the public is central to democracy. Public opinion projected by the media influences policymaking such as cultural funding by the State and Corporations. Being locked out of the mainstream media has the consequence of being locked out of decision-making processes.
Given this thesis it is no surprise that the State via its tourism body TIDCO will attempt to create Tobago as the Gospel capital of the Caribbean while not similarly considering to make Central Trinidad the Ramayan capital of the Caribbean. It is also perhaps the reason why the Ministry of Culture agreed to the Tanker’s family request for $15,000 the funeral expenses. Moean’s family got no financial support from the Ministry of Culture. There is an immediate need to conduct an ethnographic study that examines how the media is altering the nature of culture in TT. Thankfully there are several Indian radio stations that carried extensive programming celebrating the life of Moean Mohammed. Indeed Mohammed as an early pioneer of Indian programming in Trinidad built the foundations that all Indian stations now enjoy. No other electronic media house saw it fit to report on the life and contribution of Mohammed in a significant manner. The Indian presence is deemed almost irrelevant to national life this perhaps can be best also seen in the maintenance of the ‘Trinity Cross’ that denies all non-Christians national recognition. So once again it is left for the Indo-Trinidadian community to recognise and honour their own.
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"Indian icon ignored"