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Khaleda Zia and the press THE government of Khaleda Zia has begun to show signs of irritation with the media. The prime minister claimed at a recent public rally that her government was committed to the ‘free flow of information’ and that the media in Bangladesh enjoyed the highest degree of freedom, but said while the media was free, the journalists are not. Observing that ‘media owners belong to the opposition’ political camp, which was ‘jealous’ of her ‘government’s achievements’, she said journalists ‘cannot write the truth for fear of losing their jobs’. On Aug 27, Finance and Planning Minister Saifur Rahman had found “negative news” coverage by the media a “nuisance rubbish”. On Oct 25, ruling BNP members in the parliamentary standing committee on information reportedly asserted that the government should go for a law enacted to “streamline” the media. A common establishment stand against the media, indeed. When the BNP and its coalition partners were out in the cold, with Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League running the affairs of the state, Mrs Khaleda Zia and her people found the media “friendly”. These days, she says, the media “indulge in information terrorism”. No association of newspaper owners nor any professional body of journalists has so far registered any protest against the prime minister’s remarks. Still, some sporadic reactions are there. Mahfuz Anam, owner-editor of the Daily Star, in a front-page commentary on Oct 25 observed that the “leaders need a more mature understanding of a free media”. “With one stroke she painted all newspaper owners as promoters of lies, in other words, liars and all journalists as spineless, immoral, completely devoid of conscience and courage, who genuflect themselves in front of the owners for their monthly bread and butter,” Anam wrote. Anam also found the PM’s observation “in stark contrast to the proud tradition of our newspaper journalists fighting military and civil dictators and autocratic regimes including draconian anti-free press laws”. What the Star editor, perhaps, forgot to mention here is that some newspapers editorially welcomed martial law in the recent past, and some owner-editors joined military-led cabinets when the whole nation was fighting against the illegal takeover of power by the generals. Abed Khan, editor of the Bhorer Kagoj, a Dhaka-based Bangla daily owned by a group of central-level leaders of the opposition Awami League, in a front-page commentary on Oct 22, said he was “not aware of anyone losing his job for writing the truth”. The fact he did not mention is that the Bangladesh newspaper industry, divided sharply on political lines, usually picks up “like-minded” journalists to make sure that they do not dissent against the official line of the newspaper concerned, and thus the owners hardly require to sack “chosen” journalists on ground of rebellion. Professionally competent but “unruly” journalists, although few in number, always suffer from job insecurity. Janakantha, another Bangla daily, on the other hand, editorially accepted the allegation that owners effectively curtail freedom of journalists. It has also argued that the same is the case with newspapers “supporting” the ruling party camp. Referring to the PM’s observation that “they (journalists) work under the dictates of the owners”, an editorial of the paper on Oct 22 asked: “Isn’t it equally true for the newspaper supporting her party?” Janakantha has a point, especially as regards the ruling BNP- owned Bangla daily, Dinkal. A few days ago, an English- language daily, New Age, ran a couple of news stories on the “famine-like situation” hitting the country’s northern region. Subsequently, the government investigated the situation, found the reports correct and the PM ordered on Nov 1 the disaster management and relief ministry to provide food aid immediately for the hungry populace in eight northern districts. This was also covered by New Age on Nov 2. But Dinkal, the ruling party’s paper, proved itself holier than the pope. It ran a story on the same day, claiming that there was no famine in the region. The real situation in Bangladesh is that the country, like everywhere else, has pro-government papers, anti-government papers as well as middle-roaders. But there are hardly any mainstream newspapers that can claim to be anti-establishment. Newspapers are a capital-intensive industry these days, and, therefore, they can hardly afford to invite the wrath of the establishment as such. On the other hand, the prime ministerial claim that her government is committed to “free flow of information” remains nothing but a travesty of truth, as she, like her predecessors in the office, continues to keep intact, along with many other undemocratic media laws, the Government Servants (Conduct) Rules, 1979, that bars public servants from disseminating, “directly or indirectly”, public information to the press. Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)
