Newspapers can’t go against govt: Fakhrul

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir yesterday bemoaned that the country's media industry is now "under the grip of businessmen who cannot go against the government in order to protect their own interests".

Speaking at the inaugural session of the biennial general meeting of Dhaka Union of Journalists (DUJ) at the Jatiya Press Club, he also alleged the government of "controlling" the media, by enacting various repressive laws one after another.

"The biggest reality is that newspapers are no longer in the hands of media workers. The newspapers now have gone to the hands of businessmen. Most newspaper owners in our country have no way to go against the government as they have to protect their businesses," the BNP leader observed.

He further said, "You [journalists] know better how the government is taking measures -- gradually enacting laws one after another so that you can't go out of its control, and you can't write anything against it."

He said journalists themselves are now exercising self-censorship to protect themselves from being subjected to harassment by the laws.

"Editors now say this news can be published and that news can't be published. In most cases, we see flattery, and it has reached such a level that the professional 'flatterers' in Bangladesh would be ashamed of. These are the facts."

He also said there are exceptions, as some journalists always try to present the truth whenever they get a chance, as they did during the last elections to two Dhaka city corporations.

"We came to know through our journalist brothers about how the city corporation elections were held. We were also informed by you how money is being siphoned off abroad, how money disappeared from the Bangladesh Bank and how banks are depleted through plundering," Fakhrul said.

He said journalists are also exposing how the ruling party leaders are "plundering public money and capturing public assets."

"But journalists can't always play the role that people expect from them, due to the prevailing situation in the country. There's no democracy and rights of people in Bangladesh."

The BNP leader also voiced anger as the trial of the journalist couple Sagar-Runi has not been completed in the last eight years.