The New Nation - Internet Edition

Enayetullah Khan

Three decades after my professional involvement with Bangladesh media began, the situation still remains difficult and complex. As a Journalism teacher at Dhaka University, I saw a Bangladesh which was just recovering from massive political turmoil, one-party rule, military coups and ban on all newspapers barring state-owned ones. Censorship, license, press advice on what could be written and what not was rampant. Since then the media and the state have grown but the lack of cohesion among the different social forces that can make a successful state is still a matter of concern. It's not about being pessimistic but the reality of unrealised dreams that aches us all.

At this point of time Bangladesh is under an emergency with the 'interim government' having come to power under the aegis of the military, politics is banned, certain rights are curbed. It's a sad comment on our self-management abilities. The political situation had reached such a point before the emergency imposition that some kind of intervention was inevitable and ultimately, welcomed by the people. Today many politicians admit their lack of acumen to take the country forward and internal political reform has become a key point of contention. Of the two major parties, one has already split while the other is under stress., Leaders of both the major contending parties are under internment though the legal process remains unclear and many senior politicians and their family members have been tried and jailed.

As far as media is concerned, we have seen in the last one and half decade a period of great growth. It came in the wake of the civil unrest in 1990 that saw streets protests topple a ruler who came to power through a military coup in 1982 and then floated a civilian party, a common practice. But after all the promise of political democracy it never came. But the post -1990 political life is not any more democratic than before.

The main stumbling block is the dysfunctional parliament which has become the symbol of our collective inability to be ruled by constitutional practices and law. While elections are duly held, the parliament is boycotted so governance stagnates. Politicians have clearly preferred to diminish its significance as accountability is also ignored by ignoring the parliament. Elections have become a way to gain power rather than rule through democratic institutions, So after 37 years of independent life as a state, we haven't still achieved political democracy.

Media plays a charismatic role in Bangladesh history as main players in building democratic aspirations. In the last 15 years, post -1990 media have developed in all sectors and become powerful. But politicians have attacked media for causing unrest

and supposedly anti-politician stance. Media has moved away from politicians and gone closer to the consumer. In the absence of any space for political debating which the parliament provides, we notice the remarkable growth of media as the alternative political space. In fact, the chat shows, columns and interviews literally became the quasi-parliamentary space.

The rise of the consumer market on which media outlets depended has also generated a symbiotic relationship between the consumer, the advertiser and the producer of media products. This has, in fact, been very positive and considerably ensured objective coverage of issues. The highly profitable TV news casting has been forced under market pressure and competition to provide unbiased coverage or lose ratings. Thus, the traditionally political media has to that extent become more professional due to market influences.

In the last five years the media scene had exploded with over a dozen TV stations alone emerging. But the fragility of this growth was noticed when many of the owners who were powerful members of the last government were arrested and the stations suffered. The closure of Bangladesh's only exclusive TV news channel, which had quickly reached popularity charts on charges of forged permission documents after being warned of irresponsible reporting is also a negative development. Many owners are under scrutiny and we can't call this a great time for media in Bangladesh. Self-censorship is common, Media in the end is the describer of governance practices and process and lopsided development of one sector while others stagnate will not lead to media success. Our own experience says that whether its poverty alleviation or media management, we require systemic development across the board. Moneymaking is necessary for investment but has to be transparent. That means due process in all sectors including the economy.

In some ways media has succeeded in market terms only within the limitations set by governance standards of the state. Right to Information has become a movement spearheaded by NGOs in Bangladesh but doesn't exist as a functional right. Official Secrecy Act continues to dominate access to information. As expected, this control generates a large information black market that, in turn, leads to corruption and ethical misdemeanors on all sides. Information sources and the outlets play manipulation games.

There is confusion about the economic status of media. Is it a profit maximisation outlet or a social service unit? Since many are making money though not significant from media and many aren't but keep on investing for extra- economic reasons, media operates on individual terms. Nor is there any regulatory body to say what should be the rules governing wages, products, etc leaving the doors of speculative decision making open to both the owners and the workers.

Agencies like the Press Commission has been set up to arbitrate on grievances between media and those affected by its reporting has not proved effective. Nor can there be any mechanism to provide protection to media members who have been targets of violence for their work.

Yet media draws people; and is relatively more successful than other institutions both in terms of reach and influence. Some are also making serious money. However, like most other institutions, media has no standards to maintain because the sector remains unstructured. Although visible, this visibility is more incidental than designed. It was in fact, moving towards that point but such a mature construction can't occur when much of the rest are in a state of institutional confusion, unable to develop democratic practices and rule even after 37 years of its birth as a state. Without a robust political process media may flourish for a while but will be pulled back. Its success depends on the success of democratic practices and all institutions. As yet that hasn't happened in Bangladesh.

(This report was presented by Enayetullah Khan, Chief Editor, United News of Bangladesh (UNB) at the World Congress of News Agencies (WCNA) held recently in Spain. The author is currently doing research on Media and Democracy at the University of British Columbia.)