Journalism has become challenging: TIB

Occupational crisis, challenges and dissatisfaction among newsmen coupled with commercialisation of media houses and lack of professionalism has made journalism increasingly difficult, experts have observed.

Various laws and regulations that facilitate media controlling and many government, non-government hurdles are hindering investigative journalism, said speakers during a discussion on challenges of investigative journalism in the country.

"Investigative journalism face many challenges including a regulated market, lack of corporate funding, political culture, legal framework, self-censorship, security concerns and lack of will and capacity of organisations," Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) Assistant coordinator Zafar Sadiq said in the event, organised by The TIB marking the International Anti-Corruption Day.

Presenting the keynote paper, he said, "The mass media has grown significantly over the past few decades but quality investigative journalism has not flourished that much. Yes, there are more investigative reports today than there used to be but they lag behind in terms of global standard."

TIB also announced and presented its "Investigative Journalism Awards 2021" during the programme held at its office in the capital's Dhanmondi.

Mr Zafar also commented that there is a growing tendency of weak news reporting which are based on fake or misinformation, information from a single source and paparazzi journalism.

"There are also incidents, including news stories based on stolen government documents and individuals trying to undermine the credibility of fellow officials by collecting information of their corruption," he added.

He observed that the corporate sector has entered the news industry as investors over the past few decades and has exerted their influence in the editorial standards of mass media houses, they own or they are stakeholders of.

Citing a news report, he said a total of 48 mass media outlets are owned or run by 32 businesses.

"One such business group owns seven media houses. The media houses are used by the owners as a safety shield for their businesses," he commented.

He further said that the media in the country faces pressure from powerful quarters.

"The government, in its part, has established dominance over the mass media industry through at least 20 laws and regulations," he added.

Speaking on the safety of journalists, he said, "At least 11 journalists were killed in the last decade but trials in the cases are yet to finish. At the same time, no legal framework was developed for safeguarding the security and safety of journalists."

According to Mr Zafar, the mass media is yet to achieve professionalism, which affects the quality of journalism they offer.

"Internal practices, lack of good governance, poor human resource policies, inconsistent facilities for workers, dissatisfaction in the job, weak management and absence of drive towards development have further worsened the overall quality of journalism," he said adding, "As a result, it has become really difficult to get quality work."

Following the discussion TIB Executive Director Dr Iftekharuzzaman announced the winners' and handed over the Investigation Journalism Awards.

This year eight individuals and one investigation team received the award for reporting on corruption.

Staff Reporter of risingbd.com Md Rafiqul Islam, Special Correspondent of Ekattor Television Mufti Parvez Nadir Reza, Senior Reporter of Channel24 Muhammad Mukimul Ahsan, Former Reporter of Prothom Alo Ahmed Zayeef, Channel24 Senior Cameraperson Mominul Haque Afan, Ekattor Television cameraperson Md Alam Hossain and Unmochon team of Masranga Television bagged the award.

In the category of local newspaper/online, Daily Purbachal staff reporter HM Alauddin and sylhetvoice.com reporter Shorif Uddin Tanu Mia jointly won the award.