The National Broadcast Policy is just a set of suggestions, says Inu
Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu said there still remained the chance to take the views of various stakeholders before enactment of the National Broadcast Act.
He also said there was scope for elaborate explanation of the provisions of the National Broadcast Policy.
Inu made the comments in a discussion programme on the recently-approved policy. The event was jointly organised by Bangladesh Copyright and IT Forum, Dhaka Tribune and Bangla Tribune, backed by Kazi Farms Limited at a hotel in the capital on Tuesday.
In the discussion, Inu also ruled out the implementation of the National Broadcast Policy before enacting the law and establishing a commission in line with the policy.
Noting that there were some confusions about the policy, the minister said: “There is still chance to consider the views of various stakeholders while legislation and scope for detailed explanation of the Act.”
“Then there will be no confusion,” Inu added.
The cabinet approved the draft policy on August 4 with some observations. It proposes restrictions on some issues which key players of the electronic media industry think may hamper their independence. A gazette notifictaion was published after two days.
The policy would help the government enact the National Broadcast Act and the Independent Broadcast Commission Act.
‘Ministry isn’t the authority’
Inu also made a call to the major political parties including the BNP to play a role for legislation and propose a draft law for the broadcast media.
He said: “If the National Broadcast Policy remains inadequate, it will be a cover up in the time of adopting the law. I urge all the parties to come up with proposals about how the policy can be be made effective. So place the draft.”
The minister said: “It is just a set of suggestions. Under this policy, the Information Ministry does not have the authority to take any administrative action.”
Among others, Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists President Manjurul Ahsan Bulbul, Kazi Farm’s Director Kazi Zaheen Hasan, Dhaka Tribune Executive Editor Shahriar Karim, Dhaka University lecturer Abul Mansur Ahmed, Shamim Reza and media personality Muhammad Jahangir, Samia Zaman, ABM Hamid Misbah of Copyright and IT Forum, California State University lecturer Abu Nasser Razib also took part in the discussion. It was conducted by Rubayet Ferdous, teacher of mass communication and journalism department at Dhaka University.
Source: Dhaka Tribune