Editorial
Assault on newsmen
Media people must be free to do their job
On Sunday, activists of the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal and Bangladesh Chhatra League, student fronts respectively of the BNP and the Awami League, beat up the university correspondents of the Prothom Alo and Dainik Dinkal. It was behaviour that was as reprehensible as it was unwarranted, for it smacks of the authoritarian tendencies among certain classes of people which have regularly undermined our efforts to establish a proper democratic order. That these activists could pounce on these young reporters, themselves students of the university, without anyone reining them in is unbelievable.
In recent times, we have registered our protest at the way media people have been subjected to humiliation and assault by the police, religious extremists and others. Their cameras have been broken; they have been jostled and in many cases left severely hurt. What is clearly lost sight of is the fact that journalists are only doing their job and so carrying out the responsibilities they are expected to. Unfortunately, as the DU incident reveals yet once more, on duty they often find themselves in the line of fire. Such behaviour on the part of a section of students goes against the glorious traditions of Dhaka University, which has earned a coveted place in the history of Bangladesh. It is action which militates against the heritage we associate with DU.
Assaults on journalists have been a regular occurrence in Bangladesh for the last many years. There have been the many instances when global media watchdogs have noted with deep dissatisfaction the impunity with which media people have been pounced on. Besides, a number of journalists had been murdered only because they tried carrying out their professional responsibilities.
A free press is a prerequisite to the proper working of a democracy. It is therefore in the interest of all to see to it that newsmen, wherever they are and whatever events and incidents they happen to be covering, are allowed to do their work undisturbed. If it is democratic values we seek to uphold, let that task begin through recognising and upholding press freedom. Meanwhile, we share the sentiments of those who have demanded that the elements responsible for the assault on the young reporters at Dhaka University be identified and penalised for their manifestly culpable act.
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