DHAKA, Feb 19, 2019 (BSS) – Information Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud today said that mass media in Bangladesh enjoy much more freedom than many other countries of the world.
“The registration of any hundred-year-old newspaper can be canceled for publishing wrong information in the United Kingdom. The executive officers of the BBC were forced to resign for broadcasting wrong information about a representative of the House of Commons. But there is no such instance in Bangladesh,” he said.
The minister came up with the remarks while talking with journalists after holding a meeting with the visiting representatives of press councils of different countries, said an official handout here.
Mahmud said, “We want to take the country’s mass media to the highest level of dignity. I also hope that the responsibility of the media will also go to such a level at the same time”.
In the meeting with representatives of the press councils of India, Bhutan, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Turkey, the information minister said Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman established the Bangladesh Press Council (BPC) on February 14 in 1974 while the Press Council under the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is playing a pivotal role in ensuring transparency in the media sector.
The government has taken various initiatives, including formulation of Journalists’ Welfare Trust, the National Broadcast Policy and Online Mass Media Policy, to flourish the mass media in the country, Mahmud added.
Representatives of the press councils of the six countries are visiting the country on the occasion of joining the BPC Award distribution ceremony held on February 18, marking the BPC Day on February 14.