The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

Journalists should work for public service to build tolerance and unity in society.

"Public service journalism will promote democracy, pluralism, recognise many voices and help society understand itself," said Sukumar Muralidharan, South Asian Programme Manager of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), at a roundtable in the city yesterday.

"Perspective of the public service journalism is distinctive in that it seeks to raise above commercial, partisan or political interests, to reflect what people think and what people want in terms of information," he said.

He was addressing the day-long roundtable on 'Building Tolerance and Unity through Media' jointly organised by IFJ and DrikNews, international news photo agency, in support with the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) at Drik premises.

Nurul Kabir, Editor of New Age, Monjurul Ahsan Bulbul, Executive Editor of daily Sangbad, Munira Morshed Munni, Photo Editor of DrikNews, among other journalists, spoke on the occasion.

Muralidharan said, "In journalism, public service values seek to reflect the diversity of the social milieu where it is practised and allow a multiplicity of voices to be heard. It also seeks to create an awareness in the media audience about the richness of the environment they live in."

The speakers said among the South Asian countries, practising journalism most vibrant situation is prevailing in Bangladesh at present. Pakistan is in the second position in this regard, while Maldives and Bhutan are in the worst situation.

Journalists have to face a lot of critical situations while writing and publishing news especially in South Asia. Sometimes they have to follow the government's orders in this regard. But journalism as a profession could be a worthy candidate for the status of the standard professional practices in the society, they said.

If the public service values in journalism were established in society, journalists could overcome any crisis period, speakers said.

This was the first regional consultation in Bangladesh. Journalists from print and electronic media attended the roundtable.