Information and Broadcasting Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud said, the freedom and expansion of media in Bangladesh is an example for developing countries. We believe in free media, we believe in media freedom. Many neighboring countries do not have such a wide range of media outlets and do not operate with such unfettered freedom.
At the same time, he said, the media is managed properly only if responsibility is combined with freedom. And if there is no responsibility with freedom, then in many cases the society is harmed, the state is also harmed.
He said this while speaking as the chief guest at a discussion meeting organized by the National Press Club on the occasion of World Free Media Day at the National Press Club on Topkhana Road in the capital on Wednesday afternoon. President of Jatiya Press Club Begum Farida Yasmin presided over the programme. Dainik Jugantar Editor Saiful Alam, Dainik Samakal Editor Mozammel Hossain, Senior Journalist Manjurul Ahsan Bulbul, Jatiya Press Club Joint Editor Ayub Bhuiyan and others spoke about the past, present and future journey of media in the country.
Dr Hasan Mahmud said, "Media is the fourth pillar of the state. Democracy and mass media complement each other. Democracy cannot exist without media. Without freedom of media, transparency of media, democracy can never run, democratic social system cannot survive. For that reason, freedom of media, freedom of expression is definitely necessary to consolidate democracy.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government has emphasized on the expansion and freedom of the media in order to develop democracy and multi-dimensional social system, to establish a justice-based and debate-based social system, Hashan Mahmud said with statistics, "In the last 14 years, the number of television channels including state television is 39, very easy." A few more will come on air. The journey of private television and radio also started with the hands of leader Sheikh Hasina. When we formed the government in 2009, there were 10 TV channels and 450 daily newspapers, now there are 1260 papers. 22 private FM radios are licensed 12 are on air, dozens of community radios are licensed most of them are on air. How many hundreds or thousands of online media is a matter of experimentation. Already more than 200 online media registrations have been given, including newspapers and television online, it is much more.
The Information and Broadcasting Minister said, "Thousands of journalists are working in the media today as a result of this." Today's talented journalists would not have had the opportunity to express their 'talent' if such a wide spread of media had not happened. No other country in the world has such a wide range of media and does not operate with such unfettered freedom. Except for a few, almost all televisions have been approved by the Awami League government. And the government is criticized in every night talk show on all televisions. Even when the news was released, the government was widely discussed. The government never intervenes in this case. Because we believe in free media, we believe in media freedom.
Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud said, "We give the example of Singapore in words." How Singapore transformed from a fishing village to a developed country. Singapore has a higher per capita income than almost all European Union countries. Singapore's 4 channels are state controlled, most of the newspapers are also state controlled. All television channel feeds in Thailand are uplinked from one place. If a content is not desirable, it is turned off and served with advertisements or something else. Not so in our country. Malaysian children used to come to study in our country until the 80s. Now our children are going there. How they got to this place is a wonder. There is no freedom of media, no expansion.
Citing the example of European countries, the information minister said, "We try to follow the United Kingdom in many areas of democracy. Every week, the media has to pay huge fines for reporting wrong or false news or violating someone's privacy. An entire BBC team has to resign because of a false report against an MP at the BBC. The 130-year-old 'News of the World' has gone bankrupt after paying a multi-million pound fine for publishing a false report. This kind of incident has never happened in our country. In Continental Europe, like in the UK, the media has to pay heavy fines and get punished for reporting wrong or untrue news.
The minister said, "The violence of capital in newspapers is a problem in the country today. When capital is invested in the media, the violence of capital puts a sword on journalists and becomes an obstacle in their work. We always talk about what the obstacles are from the government but I think the big obstacle to working in a healthy, free, fearless environment is the violence of the owner capital. A few journalist leaders have asked why there will be no representation of journalists in the board of directors of news media like banks, there will be no independent director!”
At that time, the information minister said about the digital security law, 'I have always said and I will say it today too, this law is to provide digital security to all people, including journalists, housewives, workers, farmers. Many journalists have also sued the Act for digital security against malicious journalism.
A few days ago, a woman journalist filed a case against another journalist under this law to seek remedy for the defamation of her character.
Dr Hasan said, "In today's discussion, the journalists also said that this law is needed. This type of law is done in almost all countries of the world today. In many countries this law is stricter than ours. Except for a few states in the US, there is no death penalty. But the maximum penalty for digital crime there is life imprisonment. The population of the UK is a third of ours, just over 6 million. Dozens of people are arrested there every month. Not in our country. If someone is arrested, it makes headlines.'
The minister said, 'Also, it is necessary to stop the misuse of Digital Security Act. Arbitrary dismissal of cases, immediate re-arrests - these must stop. I agree on that. It is not appropriate to exclude any group from any law but we need to ensure that no law is misused or abused. Misappropriation has reduced compared to earlier, it is necessary to bring the misappropriation to zero quota.
