ZYMA ISLAM

How did our media get to a place where censorship is rampant and media organisations pander to political parties?

The Media Reform Commission found a key reason: 30 years of free passes to political allies to establish media organisations with dubious sources of funding.

The commission conducted a survey among 45,000 households and found 79.46 percent participants saying that the media was not independent because of political interference, and just over half said that media freedom was hindered by the interference of influential figures. A quarter mentioned that the business interests of the media outlet owners negatively affected their freedom.

“Over the last three decades, nobody has questioned the source of funding for mass media. As a result, mass media has been politicised. Many large business groups have used mass media as a shield to protect their business interests and influenced editorial policies to serve the government of the day,” says the Media Reform Commission report.

“They have concentrated power by each owning multiple newspapers, TV channels, online news portals and radio stations. These have hurt competition and eroded public trust in the media.”

The report goes on to say, “All investors have to declare the source of income of their capital, there is no such compulsion when it comes to investing in media. As a result, black money has entered the industry.

“Those who have invested black money and abused the influential power of the media to protect their own vested or political interests have created anarchy within the industry.”

In 1996, when Awami League came into power, it provided licences to Ekushey TV (ETV), ATN Bangla and Channel i. But the government also closed down Dainik Bangla, Times, Bichitra and Ananda Bichitra.

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