The government has approved the draft of the Press Council (Amendment) Act, 2022 providing the council provision to fine media outlets for “yellow journalism”.
The approval came at the Cabinet meeting on Monday with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
“The draft law demands fines for misreporting. Earlier, the Press Council could only criticize journalists for such activities,” Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam told reporters after the meeting.
The law would apply to both print and digital news media, he added.
The draft law aims at improving and maintaining the standard of the newspapers and news agencies as well as removing false journalism, but it has created resentment among journalists as they allege that it will help the government tighten its grip on the press.
A proposal was made in the draft law to impose a fine of Tk1,000,000 for harming or breaking the security of the State, public order and morality, but the Cabinet rejected it, said the cabinet secretary.
“The Cabinet left it (the amount of fine) on the discretion of the press council,” he said, adding that the council could voluntarily take offenses in cognizance.
He said the draft law will come back to the Cabinet as it did not give the final approval yet. The proposed law was designed to bring an amendment to the existing law of 1974, he added.
