In order to ensure free flow of information, a pro-people national broadcasting law should be enacted, said the speakers at a roundtable yesterday.

They said the proposed law should not seek to restrain the mass media, rather help the industry flourish.

The roundtable titled 'Why broadcasting law is required in Bangladesh?' was organised jointly by Mass-line Media Centre (MMC) and the Unesco at Cirdap auditorium in the city to mark the World Press Freedom Day.

The discussants highlighted the necessity of a national policy for regulating terrestrial, satellite and cable broadcasting services in the county.

"In this era of science and technology, the question of controlling mass media does not arise at all. However, there are needs to have some regulations to ensure free flow of information.' said Dr AAMS Arefin Siddique, vice-chancellor of Dhaka University who presided over the roundtable.

The speakers noted that a broadcasting policy was formulated in 2003 and sent to information ministry, but the government is yet to take any initiative to makeit a law

'That policy could be taken as a baseline and new terms and conditions should be incorporated into it to make the law more befitting for contemporary situations," said noted media personality Mohammad Jahangir.

"We have policies for the ICT sector, community radio and even for cable operators. As all these sectors including the broadcasting media are interrelated they need to be guided by some common guidelines and principles," said Dr Shamim Reza, a teacher of mass media and journalism department at Dhaka University.

'In the interest of mass media and people, the government will take initiatives to enact the broadcasting law,"

said Reza Ali, member of the parliamentary standing committee for information ministry.

Sukumar Ranjan Ghosh, another member of the committee, expressed surprise over the functioning of the industry over the years without any policy and said enactment of a broadcasting law has become imperative.

B M Mozammel Haque, also a member of the standing committee, said experts' opinion should be taken in enacting the broadcasting law.

"It is shocking that even after 38 years of independence we are yet to have any broad-

casting policy," said Shahriar Alam, another member of the committee.

Shahab Enam Khan, lecturer of international relations department at Jahangirpagar University, Shahid Ullah Lipon, head of themasscommunication and journalism department at Daffodil University, MMC Executive Kamrul Hassan Monju, and Unesco Communication Officer Shamim Ahsan Khan also spoke at the roundtable moderated by Head of News at ATN Bangla Manjurul Ahsan Bulbul.