Speakers at a programme in the capital on Saturday urged media personnel to cover the 11th national election with utmost responsibility and professionalism.

 

The speakers also said media’s role will be very crucial in the upcoming parliamentary election. They may have to play the central role in observing the polls against the backdrop of limited scopes for the election observers.

 

The views came at a seminar titled ‘Media Engagement for Fair Elections’. Centre for Governance Studies (CGS) organised it at BIISS Auditorium in Old Elephant Road area.

 

Former caretaker government adviser Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman was the guest of honour at the programme.

 

New Age editor Nurul Kabir presented the keynote titled ‘Democracy and Ensuing

 

Elections: Uncritical Media Engagement’.

 

CGS chairman Professor Dr M Ataur Rahman chaired the event, while CGS executive director Zillur Rahman moderated it.

 

Delivering his speech, Dr Hossain Zillur said the role of media is still very important despite its partisan nature, ownership model or other controversies.

 

Whatever media does, it is still somewhat accountable at the end of the day regarding to the question of circulation, he also said.

 

“It is not among the duties of media to decide the eventual outcome of election. Rather, as a bearing witness, it should provide news by connecting the dots and creating acceptable explanation according to the collected facts.”

 

The former adviser opined that expressing political views publicly is not a problem. But when it turns into blind and unethical one, the problem arises.

 

Mr Zillur further said currently the election process is in such a phase where the focus should be on whether the voters can cast their votes in a free and fair atmosphere or not.

 

The festive situation that was present earlier during the nomination phase is slowly fading away following lower electioneering of opposition candidates, continuation of ‘ghostly’ cases, and restriction on election observers, he added.

 

Mr Kabir, in his keynote paper, said apart from the contesting political parties, general voters also require a level-playing field to exercise their rights to franchise freely.

 

He termed the country’s Election Commission (EC) the strongest one in the subcontinent.

 

“But EC does not use its inherent power and authority, because the government picks the commission members who are loyalist and politically subservient.”

 

The New Age editor also pointed at division among the journalists because of difference in their political ideologies.

 

It will be too naive to expect that the country’s media will play a party-neutral and proactive role at this point to uphold the democratic interest of general people, he opined.

 

The primary duty of professional journalists is to criticise power. But the culture of fear is being spread in the society consciously or subconsciously, directing them to practice self-censorship, he added.

 

Jatiya Nirbachan Parjabekkhan Parishad (JANIPOP) chairman Dr ?Nazmul Ahsan Kalimullah said the role of media, regardless of electronic or print, is crucial in the election, as it is hard to dodge their eyes.

 

As a result, a tendency to put written or verbal bar on media is observed, he also said.

 

Media’s role will be more important in the upcoming election, as international observers will not be present in a large-scale due to visa-related complexities, he opined.

 

Former election commissioner Brig Gen (retd) M Sakhawat Hussain said there are hundreds of media outlets in the country. But most of them do not arrange enough training programmes for their workforce.

 

Due to that reason, many of the journalists cannot tell or write news stories in a proper way, except some exceptions, he added.

 

Professor Shahab Enam Khan of Jahangirnagar University said the presence of fear propaganda in news items is very common nowadays, which shrinks people’s confidence on mainstream media.

 

Against the backdrop of such a situation, citizen journalism has become popular. But it is also creating challenge for mainstream media by spreading rumour and fake news, he noted.

 

Among others, Daily Manabzamin editor Matiur Rahman Chowdhury, Awami League advisory committee member Yusuf Hossain Humayun, BNP vice-chairman Shamsuzzaman Dudu, and Assistant Professor of East West University Parvez Karim Abbasi also spoke at the programme.

 

News Courtesy: http://today.thefinancialexpress.com.bd