Media activities over past 15 years require fact-finding: Adviser Mahfuj

A comprehensive fact-finding process is necessary to examine the activities of media outlets over the past 15 years, Information and Broadcasting Adviser Md Mahfuj Alam has said.

"Media workers, particularly journalists, have suffered significantly due to the politicisation of media institutions," he said at a Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) event, "Brave New Bangladesh: Roadmap Reform for Media Freedom", in observance of the World Press Freedom Day 2025 in Dhaka today (4 May).

The adviser also stressed the need for accountability within the country's media landscape, and for creating a framework where journalists can be questioned.

He said implementation of the "one media, one house" policy recommended by the media reform commission is a prolonged process. 

Regarding the proposed law for safeguarding journalists, he said there needs a sitting with the reform commission regarding some provisions, then send it to the policy-making level, to examine if there remain any loopholes. "Then it will be placed in the cabinet. Efforts will be made to enact it as a law."

He also expressed support for revising the pricing of government advertisements, mentioning that efforts are ongoing in collaboration with the Department of Films and Publications to reassess advertisement and licencing rates for newspapers.

The adviser alleged that many media outlets neglect to pay taxes.

Furthermore, he advocated for the formation of a unified national broadcasting organisation comprising Bangladesh Betar, BTV and BSS.

At the event, head of the media reform commission, Kamal Ahmed, said the main challenge lies in the fact that an excessive number of media outlets are operating in a haphazard manner, which exceeds market needs.

They are dependent on political patronage or support from various vested interests, and harming the entire sector by offering abnormal discounts on advertising rates for survival, he stated.

He pointed out threats emerging on social media and mob violence as factors behind self-censorship in the media at present and most attacks on journalists.

"Both journalists and media houses are suffering from financial insecurity, which is forcing them to compromise," he stressed.

President of the Newspaper Owners' Association of Bangladesh, AK Azad, noted that Bangladesh advanced 16 notches on the World Press Freedom Index during the interim regime, and expressed skepticism regarding the retention of the achievement under any political party-led government. 

He also branded the Press Council as a "paralysed" institution, which he said had remained subservient to the past governments.