Bangladesh Media Playing Inadequate Critical Role

Journalists, academics, jurists, economists, researchers and politicians said Saturday that the media in Bangladesh was playing inadequate critical role in upholding people’s democratic rights in the election process monopolized by the ruling alliance.Speaking at a seminar on ‘Media Engagement for Fair Elections’ in the capital, they said the media in Bangladesh was largely plagued by partisan divisions.The Centre for Governance Studies organsied the seminar at BIISS Auditorium.The keynote speaker, New Age editor Nurul Kabir said that journalists in this country were vertically divided toeing the lines of Awami League and BNP.‘It’s clear that the media engagement is very much there in the elections, but it is predominantly partisan engagement devoid of broader public interests,’ he said.‘There are obviously independent media outlets and even individual journalists in the partisan ones trying to serve the people at large,’ he said, adding, ‘But it is quite inadequate in terms of the huge responsibilities that democratic media is expected to discharge during national elections.

Nurul Kabir said criticism of power is the job of journalists. Even critiquing elected people is the democratic responsibility of journalists, he added.He said the incumbents have understandably plagued the Bangladeshi media with multidimensional partisan control for quite some years.Nurul Kabir said the governing party’s dependency appeared to have reached its climax in this election time, which was evident in its ‘illegal use of law enforcement agencies to harass and intimidate oppositions.’When a government lacks legitimacy it resorts to repressive apparatuses and try to control media to produce and reproduce its version before the people, he said.He said Awami League has two challenges – one was proving the caretaker government system unnecessary and holding a credible election under partisan government.‘After all, this election was the way out for Awami League to overcome the legitimacy crisis of last elections, but they are not doing accordingly,’ he said.

Presiding over the discussion, CGS chairman and president of Bangladesh Political Science Association Ataur Rahman said the media was now facing the challenge of covering the elections in the backdrop of politics of intolerance, too weak election management and the power centric political parties.‘In this context, it’s challenging to play independent role for media to hold a free, fair and credible elections,’ he said.‘Right to reliable information and democracy are common good for humanity’, Ataur said.He cited Reporters Without Borders statistics that Bangladesh’s situation in terms of press freedom is lowest in South Asia and 146th in the world among 180 countries.Speaking as guest of honour, former caretaker government adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman said the election field was ‘one-sided’ with curbed presence of the opposition and limited polls observers.

‘The media cannot change the result of the elections, but they could be witnesses to what’s going on,’ he said.He said the election campaign in the country is not for winning people’s support but a means to display muscles.Daily Manb Zamin editor Matiur Rahman Chowdhury said that self-censorship was discouraging him to speak out.‘Of course journalists could change the situation, as everyone says but we cannot as we are in a competition to curry favours,’ he said.He said the media contents were so full of partisan narratives that one cannot see the real picture.‘No government wants to let journalists write, but we have to rectify our image if we want to change the situation,’ he said.Prothom Alo content consultant Ayesha Kabir said the media has reduced itself to the role of ‘monkey’ in Bangladesh.

‘The media in Bangladesh sees no evil, hears no evil, speaks no evil,’ she said.Ayesha said that she was skeptical that the elections in Bangladesh would be inclusive.Former election commissioner M Sakhawat Hussain said the election was going to be inclusive but it did not mean that it would be a contested election.He said everyone was waiting for army deployment because all the other institutions had ‘crumbled’.But what the army will do in that context? he asked.History professor Syed Anwar Husain said the role of media was under discussion out of concerns surrounding the elections.He said that democracy did not flourish in Bangladesh as the media continued to be plagued by immaturity.

Begum Rokeya University vice-chancellor Nazmul Ahsan Kalimullah said the role of media in the election would be crucial as there would be limited polls observers.

South Asian Monitor executive editor Chandan Nandy from India said there were reports about foreign agencies’ involvement in Bangladesh politics in Bangladesh media but these reports were not substantiated.

He, however, said Indian intelligence RAW’s ‘intimate involvement in Bangladesh politics is not a secret’.‘If one writes story about Pakistani intelligence ISI’s involvement in Bangladesh politics, they should also write or at least find out to write story about RAW’s involvement,’ he said.‘RAW is involved too in Bangladesh politics and ISI doesn’t score over RAW here,’ Chandan said.East West University economics assistant professor Parvez Karim Abbasi said the source of funding for establishing media was important for media’s freedom.‘If the financer has to think about his license, the media would serve the purpose of the government,’ he said.Awami League advisory committee member Yusuf Hussain Humayun said it was not a new phenomenon that the election was being questioned, rather every election was questioned by the defeated parties.

‘There are allegations of attacks and repression, but these are part of the life, part of the culture,’ he said.BNP vice-chairman Shamsuzzaman Dudu said the country was heading to a dark era.How the media could be blamed during fascist rule that would put Mussolini to shame, he asked.

News Courtesy: http://www.newagebd.net