Editorial
AL advisory council's suggestions to PM
Greater understanding of the media role will benefit the govt
The Awami League advisory council has urged Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to ensure that ministers, advisors and party lawmakers do not, in their public pronouncements, use language that might turn the media hostile to the government. We welcome the advice, given the fact that in recent weeks it has been the hostility of certain leading figures of the government towards the media that has surprised the country by its vehemence. Lawmakers have most unfortunately engaged in a bad demonstration of media-bashing in the Jatiya Sangsad, to a point where unseemly attacks were made on the person of the editor of a reputed newspaper. It was an attack that was not only unprecedented but also deeply disturbing, especially when juxtaposed against the government's repeated assertions that it believes in a free press. Then again, attempts by some powerful elements in the ruling party to dismiss the disturbing happenings in Pabna as a media exaggeration only surprised citizens because they were all aware of the truth.
We believe we speak for the media in general when we say that the media are never and have never been hostile to this government or any other government in the past. What the media have always done is to project what's happening in all and place it before the country. There can be no disputing the fact that the newspapers and the many television channels in the country have only been carrying out their professional responsibilities by reporting on wrongdoings committed in various spheres of public interest. Be it in the administration, in political quarters, et cetera, the media have not been loath to report on things going remiss. They have kept the nation informed of excesses committed by the student and youth wings of the ruling party. If they have pointed out the wrong steps taken by the government, they have at the same time not felt shy about berating the opposition about the role it has been playing, or not playing, by remaining outside parliament.
The suggestions of the AL advisory council point to some introspection on the part of the ruling party and its supporters. Let such introspection be made more substantive and let it not be seen as something that looks like playing to the gallery. That can be done through swift action by the government in handling issues whenever the media report on them. It must not be forgotten that the media, not only in Bangladesh but all over the world as well, are perhaps the only objective means of gauging public opinion on the performance of governments and on a wider variety of issues from day to day. They can be ignored, or condemned, at the peril of those tempted to ignore or condemn.
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