“Journalists are dogs. When we were children, affluent people used to keep pet dogs ... now, people who have gained wealth are using the media as pets. They are like Alsatian dogs ...”
Narayanganj godfather Shamim Osman made these remarks recently, immediately after the Narayaganj-5 by-elections. The statement of the parliament member is now a subject of debate among the journalist community.
The lawmaker made disparaging remarks about journalists and the profession in general, and every time when he shouted at journalists, tried to split the community into pro and anti-liberation groups. He also critically castigated some of the leading media owners of the country, calling some of them thieves, thugs even.
Shamim Osman’s remarks are not only an attempt to humiliate the profession, but also a threat to the journalist community. The lawmaker, in his parliament speeches, public meetings, talk shows, and other ways, has tried to establish that some media houses were gunning for him because of his stance against anti-liberation forces. The Narayanganj don does not rough up or harass journalists, but he keeps the newsmen in his area under constant threat.
Pro-Awami League journalist union leaders have condemned Shamim Osman. “The words Shamim Osman has said, the comments he’s made, his body language, have brought his education, taste, politics, and family culture under question,” said the BFUJ representative.
But media owners and other professional groups of the media community so far have not reacted to Shamim’s remarks. No reaction came from the government’s end either. The silence and blanket support to Mr Osman rather gives us the impression that the ruling side is happy with the Narayanganj boss.
Now is the time for the journalist community to think of doing something. They can go for a thorough review of the media policies to define journalism in a new way because of such political games.
The ruling party high-ups will not accept democratic life in Bangladesh. They are confident that they can live above the law. Shamim Osman’s stance against the media and democratic institutions reflect the psychology of politicians in Bangladesh. They do not care about the press, the judiciary, or the civil society.
The media landscape today is in real crisis. There are bodies within the media itself which are against it. The government is against the media and politics, and sometimes, the civil society is against media as well. All relationships are in urgent need of repair, redress, and balance. We know that freedom without responsibility is as bad as repression without accountability. This extraordinary episode must serve as a reminder of this truth to us all, but at the same time the question arises: How long can a society remain silent when thugs are continuously attacking its bearers of truth?
What Shamim Osman has said needs to be scrutinised. Bangladesh’s journalists are being threatened from many different angles. The ruling party is always a threat, while the opposition, and even professional pressure groups, are always on hounding journalists as well. Threats will increase manifold when the country is being run by a government which came to power through an improper election.
Now is the time for us to think about how we can overcome these threats and attacks. People like Shamim Osman, and others like him, are glaring examples non-state factors, but the problem is that the state is in support of them.
The first step in overcoming such a threat is to continue the fight for freedom of expression. The power of media in Bangladesh, a country where politics directly affects almost every citizen, gives journalists the ability to shape public debate. For that reason, young people are still attracted to the profession, despite the fact that the profession is risky as well as not having enough job security.
To ensure that journalism and press freedom develops in Bangladesh, there is a need for a public response, and for the media professionals to unite. The journalist community today is divided into two groups.
Before 1991, there was only one Federal Union of Journalists, now there are two groups of Federal Union of Journalists in Bangladesh. The division in the journalists union, because of political differences among top-notch community leaders, paved the way for thugs to target newspersons. The divisions in the media is not only making journalists more vulnerable to attacks, but also weakening their fight for justice, truth, and democracy.
Journalists are the mirror of any given society. We can request our leaders to unite in the interest of fundamental rights guaranteed in democratic countries, for that is the need of the day. However, not all journalists adhere to scruples. Some of them are interested in a partisan form of journalism in order to satisfy particular parties. They do not follow press ethics and they use their journalistic powers to make a fortune. But in general, the journalist community of our country is in a relentless struggle to defend democracy and defend the freedom of expression.
It is high time media owners and professionals gathered on a united platform and come up with a singular response in the form of policies that uphold the safety and dignity of journalists and the profession. Media personalities should have faith in themselves that unity and discipline will surely defeat their enemies.