Media reform commission’s recommendations key to reform, speakers say

The Media Reform Commission, formed during the interim government’s tenure to reform the country’s news media and journalism, made important recommendations that remain unimplemented. The elected government’s assumption of office has created an opportunity to translate those recommendations into lasting reforms, speakers said on Sunday.

They made the remarks at a discussion titled “Importance of Media Freedom and Reform” at Drik Path Bhaban in Dhaka, attended by policymakers, editors, journalists, analysts, academics, researchers and writers.

The discussion was moderated by Drik Managing Director and photographer Dr Shahidul Alam.

Senior journalist Masud Kamal said journalists’ organisations in Bangladesh were deeply divided along political lines, a situation he described as shameful.

“We have seen leaders of the Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ) and the Dhaka Union of Journalists (DUJ) move around the Press Club like tigers and lions, while those aligned with the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami were like cats. Overnight, the situation has been reversed! The tigers have become cats, and the cats have become tigers,” he said.

Referring to BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir’s statement that he did not want partisan journalists, Masud said those surrounding the BNP leader were themselves politically affiliated journalists.

Senior Khulna-based journalist Gouranga Nandi, meanwhile, said he had been unfairly dismissed from Kaler Kantho. Drawing on his experience in regional journalism, he said media freedom remained constrained by owners’ interests.

“I cannot speak up for the people of coastal regions. Media freedom is determined by the owners. If they do not want it, the media can never question those in power,” he said.

Tasneem Khalil, editor-in-chief of Netra News, said almost all media outlets, with only one or two exceptions, lacked editorial policies.

He said no government would grant media freedom voluntarily; journalists and media organisations would have to secure it themselves by ensuring transparency and independence in their own practices.

Professor A A Al Mamun of Rajshahi University’s Department of Mass Communication and Journalism said media freedom and reform were inseparable from the state of democracy in a country.

“No media commission has been formed in the country in the past 30 years. Over these three decades, the country’s media have continued to change, and we are still going through a period of transformation. If we do not take initiatives now, our aspirations for establishing democracy and ensuring that journalists can work independently and without fear will become impossible to realise,” he said.

Giti Ara Nasreen, a former member of the Media Reform Commission and a professor at Dhaka University’s Department of Mass Communication and Journalism, expressed disappointment over the failure to implement commitments to media reform.

“The BNP’s 31-point agenda and election manifesto both promise full freedom for the media. The interim government also made commitments. But when it comes to implementation, nobody is there,” she said.

She alleged that the elected government was following the same approach as its predecessor by seeking to bring the media under greater administrative control.

On the Cyber Security Act, Abdus Salam, secretary general of the Association of Television Channel Owners (ATCO) and chairman and chief executive officer of Ekushey Television, said such legislation was necessary but must safeguard journalists’ rights.

“Oppressive laws targeting journalists will not be accepted,” he said.

Discussing television ownership, Salam said companies that had previously advertised on television were now also owning television channels.

“City Group, Meghna Group, Square Group and many others now own television channels. As a result, around 80% of their advertising goes to their own channels,” he said.

He argued that the television industry needed to embrace digitalisation and introduce pay-TV services, as in other countries.

Denim Chakma, an Indigenous journalist at Netra News, expressed frustration that accurate reporting on the Chittagong Hill Tracts rarely featured in leading media outlets.

He questioned the state of media freedom and reform when the national media remained preoccupied with whether to use the term “Indigenous people” or refer to them instead as “small ethnic groups” or “tribes”.

Others who took part in the discussion included A K M Zakaria, deputy editor of Prothom Alo; Barrister Sara Hossain; Jimmy Amir, a journalist and former member of the Media Reform Commission; Professor Suman Rahman, head of the Department of Media Studies and Journalism at the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB); lawyer Nazrul Islam; Shibli Noman, a teacher and head of the Department of Journalism and Media Studies at Jahangirnagar University; Shafiqul Alam, former press secretary and editor of Daily Waadaa; and Dr SM Rezwan Ul Alam, a journalism teacher and researcher at North South University.