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The State of Media in Bangladesh

T decades after my professional involvement with Bangladeshi media began, the situation still remains difficult and complex. As a journalism teacher at Dhaka University, I saw a Bangladesh which was just recovering from massive political turmoil, one party rule, military coups and a ban on all newspapers barring state-owned ones. Censorship, licensing, press advice on what could be written and what-not was rampant. Since then the media and the state have grown but the lack of cohesion among the different social forces that can make a successful state is still a matter of concern. It is not about being pessimistic but the reality of unrealised dreams that pains us all. At this point of time, Bangladesh is under an emergency with the “interim government” having come to power under the aegis of the military, politics is banned, and certain rights are curbed. It is a sad comment on our selfmanagement abilities. The political situation had reached such a point before the emergency imposition that some kind of intervention was inevitable and ultimately welcomed by the people. Today, many politicians admit their lack of acumen to take the country forward and internal political reform has become a key point of contention. Of the two major parties, one has already split while the other is under stress. Leaders of both the major contending parties are under internment though the legal process remains unclear and many senior politicians and their family members have been tried and jailed. As far as media is concerned, we have seen in the last one-and-a-half decades a period of great growth. It came in the wake of the civil unrest in 1990 that saw street protests topple a ruler who had come to power through a military coup in 1982 and then floated a civilian party, a common practice. But after all the promises of political democracy, it never came. However the post-1990 political life is not any more democratic than before. The main stumbling block is the dysfunctional parliament which has become the symbol of our collective inability to be ruled by constitutional practices and law. While elections are duly held, the parliament is boycotted and so governance stagnates. Politicians have clearly preferred to diminish its significance as accountability is also ignored by ignoring the parliament. Elections have become a way to gain power rather than rule through democratic institutions. So after 37 years of independent life as a state, we still have not achieved political democracy. Media plays an important role in the history of Bangladesh as main players in building democratic aspirations. In the last 15 years, post-1990 media have developed in all sectors and become powerful. But politicians have attacked the media for causing unrest and supposedly anti-politician stance. Media has moved away from politicians and gone closer to the consumer. In the absence of any space for political debating which the parliament provides, we notice the remarkable growth of media as the alternative political space. In fact, the chat shows, columns and interviews literally became the quasi-parliamentary space. The rise of the consumer market on which media outlets depend has also generated a symbiotic relationship between the consumer, the advertiser and the producer of media products. This has in fact been very positive and has considerably ensured objective coverage of issues. The highly profitable TV news casting has been forced under market pressure and competition to provide unbiased coverage or lose ratings. Thus, the traditionally political media has to that extent become more professional due to market influences. In the last five years, the media scene had exploded with over a dozen TV stations emerging. But the fragility of this growth was noticed when many of the owners who were powerful members of the last government were arrested and the stations suffered. The closure of Bangladesh’s only exclusive TV news channel which had quickly reached popularity charts on charges of forged permission documents after being warned of irresponsible reporting is also a negative development. Many owners are under scrutiny and we cannot call this a great time for media in Bangladesh. Self censorship is common. Media in the end is the describer of governance practices and process and lopsided development of one sector while others stagnate. This will not lead to media success. Our own experience says that whether it is poverty alleviation or media management, we require systemic development across the board. Money making is necessary for investment but has to be transparent. That means due process in all the sectors, including the economy. Viewpoint