Media vs. ministers
THE third US President Thomas Jefferson famously said that he would prefer newspapers without government to a government without newspapers. Our ministers should ponder these words as they bash the media for disseminating news to help people to form opinions.
Recently, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina gave a call to the editors and owners of newspapers to help in uninterrupted functioning of hard-earned democracy and requested them to project successes and achievements of the government to the people and not to publish untrue news. She probably did not remember Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which provides freedom "to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers," while giving the call.
When one talks about the relationship between the media and the ministers, two topics generally arise. One is media indulgence and the other is media bashing. Many ministers prefer to become most visible like the media stars through constant media attention. Most of the ministers like this media exposure though such visibility does not improve their performance, but hampers it instead.
The downside of the media-minister relationship is the media bashing, which is a common phenomenon in Bangladesh. When a media report is not in accord with the ruling party's stated position, it is labeled as a false or motivated one, and the dire consequence is the media bashing.
Stung by strong criticism in the media, many ministers lose their tolerance and sensitivity and often resort to physical assault on media persons. Giving punishment to the messenger of bad news was a practice of the absolute potentates of the days of yore. But it has not lost value for some among today's high-ups where the media is concerned.
Ministers and some BNP lawmakers launched an abhorrent attack on the media in parliament during their regime, accusing it of tarnishing the government's image by publishing what they called "fake news," and also demanded action against those responsible. The president, prime minister and information minister also expressed their willingness to amend the provision of the Press Council Act through adding a punitive provision to punish errant journalists.
The housing and public works minister of BNP government, Mirza Abbas, declared journalists as pen terrorists in their quest for a transparent government. The commerce minister of the AL-led alliance government blamed the media for the price hike of essential commodities. Failing to perform well, many ministers take the recourse of blaming the media for all manner of ills.
Why are the high-ups in the ruling alliance so angry with the media, and why have journalists become their whipping boys? According to a study, the recent trend of physical attacks and violence against journalists is linked to the media's commendable role in exposing corruption and abuse of power by the ruling alliance and the persons in the corridors of power.
Bangladesh has been ranked 121st among 175 countries in the Global Press Freedom Index 2009, by a Paris-based global media watchdog -- Reporters Without Borders. The South Asia Media Monitor-2009 said that three journalists were killed and more than 200 were tortured and harassed in 2009 by law enforcers, political party activists and extremist outfit operatives in Bangladesh. Naturally, a look at the numbers gives an unambiguous picture of the environment in which the media operate in Bangladesh.
Former UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali said: "For the past two centuries it was the law that provided the source of authority for democracy. Today, law seems to be replaced by opinion as the source of authority, and the media serve as the arbiters of public opinion."
This wise saying has a strong implication in a country like Bangladesh, where democracy is still in a formidable form. Media and democracy are like two sides of a coin, and once one side is scarred the whole coin becomes useless. In other words, once a free media that articulates and shapes public opinion is compromised then the nation's walk on the way to democracy also plunges into uncertainty. So, both a free media and democracy are pre-requisite for improving governance in a country like Bangladesh.
The media in Bangladesh is claimed to be free in the absence of censorship or harsh laws to throttle free expression. This is a myth and not the whole reality. The issue that needs to be highlighted once again is that the media in Bangladesh is confined under the claws of the high-ups of the ruling parties, as any law to resist their repression is absent.
The openly hostile attitude of ruling high-ups towards journalists has instigated their lawmakers and activists to assume that they can repress journalists with impunity. Press freedom is thus incompatible with increasing persecution, intimidation and killing of journalists.
The journalists of Bangladesh have been playing a very vital role in their mission of unearthing all falsehoods under the dire circumstances the nation happens to be going through. They consistently tried to draw the attention of the government to the gathering strength of Islamic extremists in the country.
Journalists have kept our hopes alive by bringing to light the tales of torture, denial and violation of human rights, but they seem to be at the receiving end of despicable attacks masterminded by the high-ups of the ruling parties. The prevailing situation now calls for them to develop a sense of unity among themselves to resist the onslaught on their professionalism and dignity.
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