The Election Commission can arrange a referendum on whether the people support use of electronic voting machines (EVM) in the next parliamentary polls. If, as it seems, the commission has made up its mind to go ahead with the EVM method in 50% of the constituencies, it may have nothing to worry about the results of the vote: One of the commissioners is said to have read the minds of all those who oppose the use of EVMs but actually have “faith in their hearts” -- whatever that means.
In that case, only the credibility of the commission itself remains a big question, especially after its reported doctoring of political parties’ stances on the EVM debate and of course the subservient role played by the two previous Election Commissions in 2014 and in 2018.
Whatever happens to the fate of the EVM, let alone the prospect of free and fair elections, the commission people’s talks of subsidiary issues are not useful. This way the media is kept busy covering issues that eclipse important ones. So, the people continue to see the arrival of issues one after another and cliché reports on them leave not much impact on national life.
In a recent case, a section of readers blamed politics for the infighting among female student activists at Eden College, while others stigmatized the culture of having women in dormitories. A Khulna woman was the talk of the town for her overacting while demanding the release of her allegedly missing mother.
Bangladesh Football Federation officials’ showing up at a media briefing, keeping female footballers standing after they became SAFF champions, prompted many to question the powerful persons’ level of taste and treatment of the real heroes. The report of a trophy being damaged by a civil servant in Bandarban drew media watchers’ criticism but only for a brief period. So, the “short memory” is an advantage for the managing director of WASA to ignore allegations of abuse of power against him.
In the midst of disjointed reports with a lack of focus on public interest, some key issues such as the spiraling prices of fuel, food, and other essentials and the boycott of the Election Commission’s talks by major opposition, Bangladesh Nationalist Party, are lost. Instead, readers are told “matth niyontrone rakhte norome gorome egobe AL” (AL will go ahead with “soft and hard” approach to dominate the political field).
One of the reasons why many media outlets have lost their relevance to readers and viewers is not only because of their failure to float the people’s agenda but also because they do a disservice to the nation either by going with cheap trends or being a tool of propaganda, of the state or otherwise. Like a once-unbeaten boxer knocked down on the floor, they don’t know where they are.
News seekers no longer depend solely on newspapers, radio, and television -- be it for tuning into murmurs of a coup in China, price fluctuation of currencies, or a Bangladeshi juvenile’s victory in Qur’an recitation in Makkah. With the “breaking news” phenomenon becoming almost obsolete, social media networks and platforms have already taken the lead in feeding newsreaders anything and everything they want.
The formal media then recognizes that some of them deserve coverage. Thus selective agendas are set. But, netizens don’t stop there -- they react to news reports so much that networking sites turn into hosts of public discourses, especially debates, mostly in the form of quarrels. When non-professional and not-so-conscious persons upload first-hand information online about certain happenings or complaints, they are supposed to have their flaws, not always deliberate acts unlike a highly editorialized report with ill motive.
While many “dummy” issues are covered by one and followed up by the other, the activities of the entire media result in no significant impacts being made on lives and society overall. Instead readers and viewers get frustrated by the “hard news” devoid of any reflections of ground realities and a human touch.
Unfortunately, the so-called mainstream media’s dependency on social media nowadays -- or their competition seeking public attention and engagements measured by pageviews and TRPs -- exposes a bankruptcy of the former and infantility of the latter.
In the current media transition, activists and commoners alike need to learn what and how to share with decency on social media platforms. Professional practitioners have the scope to win the hearts of the audience by telling themselves first that they have a serious job to do, ie to serve people.
Khawaza Main Uddin has been pursuing journalism for almost three decades and is the winner of the UN MDG Award, DAJA Award, and WFP Award.
