& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Govt seeks to certify journalists

Aims to amend Press Council Act

Hasan Jahid Tusher
In yet another move to tighten its grip on mass media, the government has decided to amend the Press Council Act, 1974, to incorporate some stringent provisions in the law.
Provisions in the draft amendment include suspension of newspapers' declarations and journalists' accreditation cards for publishing false, instigating, slanderous and anti-state reports. Suspension of government ads and duty free import of newsprint for similar offence is also in the draft.
Under the existing law, the Press Council can only warn, admonish or censure the newspaper, the news agency or a journalist,
as the case maybe.
But the proposed amendment drafted by the Council will suggest punishment also, including fine of up to Tk 10 lakh, for publishing reports that hurt the interests of the country or instigate chaos and destroy religious harmony, official sources said.
The amendment will also propose taking mandatory certificate from the Press Council for doing j ournalism.
Persons willing to take up journalism will have to take exams while those already in the profession will collect certificates from the Council through their editors, senior officials of the Council told The Daily Star yesterday.
The move comes after newly appointed Council Chairman Justice Mamtaj Uddin Ahmed at a meeting with Information Minister Hasanul Huq Inu in mid-August underscored the need for certification of journalists, sources in the ministry said.
Contacted, Mamtaj said the proposals would be placed at the next meeting of the Press Council that would decide on the matter. Nine of the 14-member Council will be from among publishers, owners, editors and journalist leaders.
The previous Council members made many of the proposals, including that for fine and punishment, and the present Council just carried those forward to the information ministry. The issue of mandatory certification is a demand of journalists and it would enhance their dignity, he said.
The chairman added the amendment would come only if the Council agreed.
Only last month, the government formulated the National Broadcast Policy 2014, which drew criticism from among cross section of people. The government is formulating two more policies -- one for the booming online media and the other for the film industry-
Sources in the Press Council said broadcast media would also come under the Act. Once amended, anyone could lodge defamatory cases with the council instead of with regular courts.
Bangladesh Press Council was established in 1979 to preserve the freedom of the press and improve the standards of
newspapers and news agencies. But critics say the Council has never been able to play an effective role to this end.
"We are hoping that the cabinet will approve in principal the proposed amendments by December," Council Secretary Shyamol Chandra Karmakar told this paper.
But before that its members will sit in a month to finalise the proposals.
"We will also take opinions from different stakeholders across the country," he said, adding that the certification system would prevent yellow journalism.
He described the initiative of taking certificates "a good step of the government" and said there was no alternative but to take certificates to enhance the quality of mass media.
Asked whether it would curb press freedom, he said it would rather protect the interest and freedom of journalists.
Prof AJM Shafiul Alam Bhuiyan, chairman of Television and Film Studies at Dhaka University, said any decision in this regard should be taken in consultation with journalists.
Terming the initiative as a major change for mass media workers, he said it might give a negative message that the government was trying to control the sector.
The certification system, nevertheless, will improve the quality of journalism andcheckyellowjournalism, he added.
Contacted, the information minister said the Council gave some proposals for strengthening the organisation but he sent those back to the Council for
further review.
Amendments to the Press Council Act is a demand of the Council itself and journalists also, he said, adding that aggrieved people did not get justice from the Council and the law needed to be amended for this reason.
Inu questioned as to why action would not be taken when journalists resorted to yellow journalism.
Upon getting the concrete proposal, the information ministry will consult the stakeholders before finalising the amendment.
Asked whether it would curtail press freedom, the minister said it would not.
Chief Editor of Boishakhi Television Monjurul Ahsan Bulbul said they placed some recommendations for strengthening the Council nine months ago but he could not recall those.
"As far as I remember, there was no proposal for lodging any defamation case with the Press Council instead of with the court," he said.
The News Today Editor Reazuddin Ahmed said if the Press Council was given the power to punish, it would be a “court of law instead of a court of ethics".
Terming any provision to cancel declaration of newspaper as dangerous, he said this power should not be at the hand of the government or the Press Council under any circumstances.
Rather the newspapers that violate ethics of journalism should be exposed, he said.
Regarding the certification, he said it would be wrong to implement the idea all of a sudden.