By Nava Thakuria*
Dhaka/Geneva: The interim government in Dhaka, headed by Professor Muhammad Yunus, is actively considering setting up a Media Commission to ensure press freedom and accountability in Bangladesh.
The consideration for the commission is given numerous troubles for professional media persons in the South Asian nation, which was born in 1971, and has brutal laws in the background of relentless socio-political turmoil in the last few decades.
While addressing the nation of 170 million people on September 11, 2024, Professor Yunus stated that the freedom of expression is guaranteed in the Constitution of Bangladesh. He stressed that the government must respect everyone’s opinions even with critical views.
Bangladesh lost five working journalists and hundreds of media workers sustained injuries in the month-long unrest beginning in the middle of July 2024, following which the Awami League government collapsed and its leader Sheikh Hasina had to quit as the prime minister of the troubled nation and flee the country on August 5, 2024. Media persons Hasan Mehedi, Tahir Zaman Priyo, Shakil Hossain, Abu Taher Md Turab and Pradip Kumar Bhowmik died while reporting the violent agitation from the ground.
The Geneva-based global media safety and rights body, Press Emblem Campaign, today lauded the initiative of the Nobel laureate Professor Yunus – the octogenarian academician-turned-banker-turned-social enterprise preacher, who heads the caretaker government of Bangladesh.
“A media commission functions as an independent statutory media regulatory body for a nation. The commission usually promotes and safeguards the freedom and independence of the media outlets. Moreover, it investigates, mediates and also settles complaints made against the media houses,” said PEC president Blaise Lempen, adding that the proposed media commission will help Dhaka register, regulate and monitor various media organisations’ activities.
*Senior journalist and PEC’s South Asia representative
