The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information and Broadcast Ministry will sit with different stakeholders before finalizing the much-debated bill titled “Mass Media Employees (Services Conditions) Bill 2022”.
Parliamentary Standing Committee Chairman Hasanul Haq Inu said this on Wednesday after a meeting of the committee at the Parliament.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Hasan Mahmud placed the bill in parliament on March 28.
The bill was later sent to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the information ministry for scrutiny and report back to the House within 60 days.
On June 6, Inu, also president of Jatiya Samajrantrik Dal, placed a proposal to extend the time for another 60 days which was approved in the House unanimously.
File Photo of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JaSoD) President, Hasanul Haq Inu Dhaka TribuneThe Parliamentary Standing Committee did not hold any meetings after the bill was placed in parliament.
Various journalist organizations and owners associations and Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) have seriously opposed various sections of the proposed law.
“Journalist leaders have already talked to me about the bill. But I have requested them to place their proposal before the standing committee in writing. The parliamentary committee will then formally invite different journalist organisations to the committee,” Inu said.
Inu added that the Parliamentary Standing Committee would hold meetings with the Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ), Dhaka Union of Journalists (DUJ), Newspaper Owners Association of Bangladesh (NOAB), Association of Television Channel Owners (ATCO) and newspaper employees association.
He also said that there may be a meeting with Dhaka Reporters' Unity.
The wages and benefits of journalists, employees and press workers, and artists of broadcast, online, and print media outlets will be fixed under the proposed law.
The bill seeks to consider journalists as media professionals, not as workers.
Violation of the provisions of the bill is punishable with a fine of Tk50,000-Tk5 lakh. The government will be empowered to cancel the licences or registration of the media.
The owners of media outlets will also face punishment for violation of the law.
Currently, journalists and employees of media houses are regarded as “workers” under the labour law.
Once the law is passed, they will be regarded as media personnel instead.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee also instructed the ministry to submit a detailed report on the views of stakeholders on the draft over-the-top (OTT) policy.
"The ministry did not present the OTT policy in today's (Wednesday) meeting. We have asked the ministry to talk to the stakeholders over the OTT policy and to submit a detailed report on their views," Inu said.
"We will review and make recommendations after the ministry submits the detailed report," Inu observed.
The meeting recommended taking initiative to ensure attendance in the biometric system and deducting salary for absence in order to restore order among the officers and employees of BSS.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Hasan Mahmud and members Simeen Hussain (Rimi), Murad Hasan and Khandaker Mamata Hena Lovely were present.