BSS-55 Journalist leaders surprise over Sampadak Parishad’s statement endorsing NOAB

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ZCZC

BSS-55

BFUJ-SAMPADAK PARISHAD-STATEMENT

Journalist leaders surprise over Sampadak Parishad’s statement endorsing NOAB

DHAKA, Aug 26, 2020 (BSS) – Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ) and Dhaka Union of Journalists (DUJ) have expressed deep concern over the Sampadak Parishad’s (Editors’ Council) statement toeing the line of the NOAB statement, and vented their surprise over such act.

“The Newspapers Owners’ Association, Bangladesh (NOAB) is an organization of owners who invested in the newspaper industry while Sampadak Parishad is the organization of professional journalists. If the wage board is illogical according to the claim of NOAB, the editors will also be degraded to the level of daily labourers of other industries,” the journalist unions said in a joint statement here today.

BFUJ President Molla Jalal and Secretary General Shaban Mahmood and DUJ President Quddus Afrad and General Secretary Sajjad Alam Khan Tapu, in the statement, strongly protested the statement of the Sampadak Parishad and said the wage board is not just a salary structure for journalists and media workers and employees, but it is a state legislation.

This law has protected the dignity of media workers along with protecting the rights to salary and allowance, they said, adding that the wage board law evaluates an editor as an institution.

“He or she is an editor as the wage board exists. If the wage board is illogical according to the claim of NOAB, there will be no difference between the media workers and other workers and daily labourers of other industries,” the journalist leaders said.

Noting that the owners of the newspapers can demand anything to the government, they said, but their shrewdness of making the journalists slaves in the name of demands will never be accepted.

There is nothing about job cut of journalists in the NOAB’s statement, the union leaders said, adding that similarly, the Sampadak Parishad also did not say anything in this regard although the editors are the institutional guardians of the journalists.

“Does the Sampadak Parishad, which is also a member of NOAB family, not know that 37 journalists from Prothom Alo, 35 from the Daily Star, 57 from the Kaler Kantha, five from the Azadi and four from the Daily Purbokone have already been sacked?” they said.

Mentioning that firing of a journalist amid the corona situation is tantamount to killing him or her, the journalist leaders said a spree of layoffs and firing of newsmen has started in the media industry on the pretext of the corona situation although the government has announced incentive packages for the newspaper industry like other industries.

Noting that the government gives assistance for the journalists not for upgrading the six-storey building to nine-storey one, they said the government gives assistances to the newspaper industry for paying salaries to journalists, workers and employees.

The journalist leaders said that, if necessary, the union can hand over the documents of government assistances to the newspapers industry to NOAB and Sampadak Parishad at a tripartite meeting at any time.

They hoped that it would be better that an acceptable decision will be taken after holding discussion with all stakeholders.

Job cut as well as firing journalists and demands for income generation cannot go together, they said.

BSS/PR/SAH/KU/2145 HRS