Responsibility a must for press freedom
The roundtable titled 'Transparency and democracy in media ownership and management' was organsied jointly by Bangladesh Centre for Development, Journalism and Communication (BCDJC), Odhikar and Democracywatch in cooperation with Danida on the eve of Media Democracy Day being observed today.
In a keynote paper Prof Asif Nazrul of Dhaka University said the internal responsibility of the press should be established first as there are many newspapers where code of conduct and regulations are not clear and followed at all.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. "Taking the opportunity some newspapers tend to patronise fundamentalism, blindly supports or opposes particular political parties, express partial view about corruption and terrorism and serves the purpose of their business and giant advertisers," he added.
The speakers said if there is transparency in the question of ownership, the degree of responsibility becomes higher.
They said the press has become hostage to the advertisers who often give advice to the press.
The speakers said changes in the mentality of the owners should be brought through seminars and roundtables to help establish accountability.
If the press could acquire institutional base, they would be able to write against the misdeeds of their advertisers, they added.
The speakers said professionalism is absence among most of the journalists who should be more committed and united.
While moderating the roundtable, Executive Editor of the daily Sangbad Monjurul Ahsan Bulbul said in the context of Bangladesh editors become the owner or have 10 to 20 percent ownership of the paper.
"They sometimes even become publisher which is my sad experience as a professional journalist," he added.
Executive Editor of Weekly 2000 Golam Mortoza, Bureau Chief of Associated Press Farid Hossain, Editor of the daily Ittefaq Anwar Hossain Monju, Special Correspondent of the daily Janakantha Fazlul Bari, Chief Reporter of the News Today Bodiul Alam and News Editor Shafiul Alam, and acting Editor of the daily Bhorer Kagoj Shyamol Dutt were present on the occasion.