Social Welfare Minister Syed Mohsin Ali is still a hot topic in the media. Journalists across the country are demonstrating against him. The minister, in a program on indigenous people in Sylhet, recently said journalists are “dirty chaps and of bad character.” At one point, he told the photojournalists not to take his pictures, and also asked the newsmen to leave the venue.
About the national broadcast policy, Mohsin said: “Had I been present in the cabinet meeting that day, I would have pressed for making it a tougher one.” Earlier on July 22, he came down hard on journalists, and said a law would be formulated to make sure electronic media had no freedom.
Taking a dig at journalists, the minister said newsmen did not know how to deal with people, and they always misinterpreted things. He claimed the prime minister praised the comments he had made earlier about the media and journalists.
This was the gist, although he has made many other filthy remarks about journalists. The same way Shamim Osman, another very famous member of parliament from Narayaganj, at a TV talk show last week, said newspapers and the overall media have had too many motivated reports and comments about him and Narayanganj. Syed Mohsin Ali sought apology, and in the same way Shamim Osman said he did not say that every newspaper or media house is bad. But we can understand the overall attitude of the people in power regarding the media in Bangladesh.
What do our journalists actually do in Bangladesh? Not only newspapers or television channels, but blogs, local newspapers, and even public comments on Facebook try to depict the local perspective. If everybody speaks up, loudly and clearly, the truth can make its way to the limelight.
But there are many people who do not like this. They get very angry because newsmen are always trying to unearth the truth. How can they like journalists when they illustrate who killed whom, how the godfather network is maintained, how public funds are plundered, what corrupt practices are going on, how encroachers are occupying rivers, canals, ponds, and even playing grounds?
We conduct journalism in a society where geographic, political, historical, and economic hindrances are so very strong they suffocate the facts and deface the reality. The powerful quarters always believe that they can rule, or should rule, by suppressing the truth. But the reality is that the truth never dies. The modern, vibrant, and blunt media is always on a move to dig out the truth. So journalists are really bad people to those who always want to kill the truth.
Let us understand the role of media in a society. Primarily, it is to expose the truth, and with that, educate society, build opinion, and transform it into a collective strength. A fair and unbiased media should always keep the readership/audience away from sensation, delusion, fantasy, and fabrication.
The Bangladeshi media, despite all hindrances and pressures, despite all the limitations of its workforce, try to showcase the problems of the common people in addition to covering the statements of political leaders or their activities.
We know our readers and audience. They are quite smart. We cannot satisfy them with only protocol speeches. They do not like stories that glorify someone or something. It is highly difficult to retain viewership or readership by just pushing them into a world of fantasy for a vested interest and commercial purpose. We also need to know that media is a business too. It has commercial risks and limitations. So, we need to retain the viewership or circulation to sustain the business.
In a developing country like Bangladesh, we are to fight for the rights of the people, to end corruption, or draw attention to environmental hazards – things that have a large impact on our society. It is not the ministers, the MPs, or the bureaucrats who will dictate to us which truth the media should be an ambassador for.
Think of two situations – a minister will attend a wedding today and the people of Narayanganj passed one more night under threat. Both are truths, but a professional media house will prefer to cover the latter one.
Yes, surely our media is largely engaged with celebrities or politicians. Journalists usually focus their attention on such stories and distance themselves from the truth and the real problems faced by the people. But we have to make an effort to break away from ministerial and protocol news and lay our eyes on real issues like human rights violations, corruption, nepotism, poverty, environmental hazards, economic challenges, and political oppression. Our ministers love to give lectures on objectivity, but they like the type of journalism which does not depict the problems people are really facing.
In fact, media people know their business better. They realise that the age of print monopoly has passed and people do not only rely on TV channels for information. There is hardly any scope in the profession right now to compromise the truth.
This is what must be realised by the ministers, MPs, or bureaucrats. The reality is that if a minister or MP, or any government agency, can convince or compel one newspaper or TV channel to hide something, more are there to dig it out. The media in Bangladesh cannot remain ineffective in bringing about social awareness and fasten the society together for a common collective wisdom.