Media ownership not in hands of those who truly want to provide accurate info to public: Rizwana

The media outlets are not owned by people who sincerely want to provide accurate information to the people, Environment, Forest and Climate Change Advisor Syeda Rizwana Hasan said today (23 March).

"Who has taken over the ownership of the media in the last 20-25 years? People who are actually interested in news, and who actually want to provide information to the people, do not have media outlets. They outlet owners have opened media outlets or television stations to attack other people's businesses while keeping their own business intact," she said during a seminar on the mass media at the Press Institute of Bangladesh (PIB).

The seminar titled "Media in the Age of Misinformation and Disinformation: Challenges, Responsibilities and Moving Towards Development" was jointly organised by Oxfam in Bangladesh and PIB under the initiative of the Development Media Forum.  

Speaking at the event, Adviser Rizwana said, "We all thought that our growth had improved a lot and that we were on the highway of progress. We believed in so many kinds of information for 15 years. But now we know that those were false. And why is there so much propaganda now? Its purpose is to protect politically and economically vested interests."

Alleging that the former Awami League-led government spread misinformation to divert people's attention from the major political issues, she said, "Whenever there was a political uproar or people were talking about their political rights, Russell Viper or something like that would appear.

"After the change of scenery, there was an episode of robberies. Suddenly robbers are gone, suddenly Russell Viper is gone," she said.

Referring to the objective of AL leadership behind such reported propaganda campaigns, she said, "The main point of everything is, when I want to run the country my way and not give anyone else any chance, then I understand which institutions I will take over. I will take over the judiciary, law and order and the media too. Because the media can control the minds and mentality of the people."

She also alleged that even though the July Uprising has ousted the AL government, their allies are still everywhere in the system. "Hence, such propaganda is still ongoing regularly. They cannot accept the change. They are publishing propaganda by pouring in money. The government is failing to compete with them as the government does not have that kind of money to spare."

"We are declaring and showing where we are spending the money... We do not have any beneficiaries, no party or force. As a result, it is not possible for us to give counters in that way," she added.

Also speaking at the event Media Reform Commission Chief Kamal Ahmed said, "There is very limited institutional work being done in Bangladesh to combat misinformation, disinformation, and fake news. Now that the tsunami of fake news and fake news has begun on such a large scale, individual initiatives or limited initiatives will not work to combat it."

He further said at least half a dozen mainstream media outlets in India can be named, which are regularly spreading and systematically promoting misleading information about Bangladesh. "This is the work of the political friends of the fallen dictatorship in Bangladesh."

PIB Director General Faruk Wasif said, "In the past, the government spread false or exaggerated information in every field, from population to employment growth or food production. A part of that [misinformation campaign] was that Bangladesh was going to be a middle-income country. Who will pay the price for showing development using  fabricated data?"

He also alleged that over the last six months, propaganda has been spread about Bangladesh from inside and outside of the country, which demanded the government's full attention in many areas.

"It has created chaos in public life, and there has been hesitation in adopting state policies. Overall, the government's development efforts are slowing down. If this trend continues, they will also have to bear the consequences when a regular government comes to power in the future," he added.

Presenting the keynote paper at the seminar, Mohammad Mamun-ur-Rashid, assistant professor at Jahangirnagar University, said analysis of the data from the seven months before and after the uprising, it was found that those outside power were spreading more false or misinformation.