Drishtipat Blog

Wed 2 May 2007

5 Responses to “May 3 Live Webcast: Press Freedom”

1. Asif Says:
   May 2nd, 2007 at 2:42 pm

   Naeem,

   briliant line up. Afsan bhai’s book written in 2003 is extremely relevant today. I have been reading it for the past week. I would like to particularly have him focus on “journalism without favour” aspect. Every single media house in Bangladesh is own by major business houses and to a certain extent compromised. On top of that there the activist role of certain newspaper in promoting certain interest has made the media anything but a neutral observer. Its time to critically analyse their role and the impact of such partisan journalism. At the same time, at this era of “press advice” by sms and governence by unaccountable government, its role is more important than ever. Great initiative and thanks for doing a webcast of it as well for us.

2. Sweetboy Says:
   May 2nd, 2007 at 3:06 pm

   Is the Asif(dhakashahar.blogspot.com) and asif(thread poster) in Dristipat same person?

3. Asif Says:
   May 2nd, 2007 at 3:38 pm

   No. dhakashohor blogger posts here as AsifY.

4. AsifY Says:
   May 2nd, 2007 at 6:22 pm

   Wow, I do seem to be creating a lot of confusion. Apologies to both sweetboy and Asif. Which reminds me, Asif, I’d be highly interested in the writing syndicate, so if you want me do email.

   Naeem, 4:30 BST means 6:30 am here. So any chances of a recording being available later?

5. Asif Saleh Says:
   May 3rd, 2007 at 1:22 pm

   Fascinating stuff. Thanks Naeem for typing up the transcript. So seems like websites are going to be blocked soon. We should have detailed discussion on this on a separate thread.

   http://www.drik.net/webcast/

   reprinted below because that page is refreshing too frequently.

   DrikNews
   WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY: The Bangladesh Experience
   live round table discussion from Dhaka
   ——————————————————————————–
   May 3: Live Translation Feed
   May 3rd, 2007
   CLICK FOR LIVE VIDEO BROADCAST

   LIVE TEXT TRANSLATION HERE (updates every 10 seconds)

   Shahidul Alam : We will speak in English and Bangla. English only for those who are abroad. But when not, it will be translated.
   Afsan Chowdhury: Speaking in English, no translation needed.
   Khaled Mohiuddin: I am with Bdnesws24.com. Journalists think themselves as social workers.
   Munni Saha: I echo what Khaled said.
   Probir Sikder: I was victim of terrorism in 2001. I am very confused what should I say about journalism and safety? I was attacked and lost my leg, but when I went on TV we could not mention the name of my attacker. I see these glossy supplements made in newspapers about press freedom, with advertisement money, what should I say? It seems the advertiser is more important than my safety. I don’t want safety as a journalist, I want safety as a human being? We should fight for our rights, but within the spirit of the liberation war.

   Mainul Khan: I am with Reporter San Frontieres. This repeated oppression, there is now a trend of self censorship. How are we going to get over these trends. Safety is a fundamental issue, not just for journalists. We have to stop censoring ourselves.
   SHAHIDUL ALAM IS TRANSLATING EVERYONE AS WELL
   Tipu Sultan: [had arms crushed by Joina Hazari’s men] These last 3 months we see a new trend. We know that people have been told not to publish some kind of news. These things are increasing, but invisible execot to those in news management. Is it at the place where it was under the Ershad military junta, I don’t know, not yet, but we need to watch it. What about local journalists, they have no compensation. And also what about mass layoffs at newspapers, these things affect free speech as well. If our jobs are not guaranteed, how can we do free speech. So what about this invisible pressure on us?
   Shahidul Alam: [Tipu Sultan brought up some controversial things, deliberately I am sure] The fact that you are required to say “Joint Forces” rather than “Army” The fact that the military itself has become media experts, advising newspapers what to write.
   Tanvir Siddiqui: Changemakers. I used to work in media. Later I moved to development field. This issue of media insecurity was a big reason for me to leave, including exploitation by media house. What about the MNCs that own the press. What about cell phone companies and the injustice they do on us. When I started talking about the injustice they do, these outrageous bills ripping us off, I complained about it, widely loudly. But my media friends cannot report about this. We get 5 lakh taka of ads, how can we jeopardize this. So this is another kind of censorship. The only way they can cover the news is if I file a lawsuit against cell phone company, then they can file a news referencing the lawsuit.
   Khaled Mohiuddin: Corporate business very much controls the press, in ther sense that press depends on them. But the press owners have this idea that just because I print their ad, I can’t write about them. But an ad is just a service, this does not give them right to control the press. Look Telegraph paper shut down Halifax Bank, but Halifax would never dare go against Telegraph. What are they going to do? Not advertise with you? You reach millions of people, they have to advertise with you. This is the owners idea that they cannot write against advertisers. Only in Bangladesh…
   Munni Saha: The reality is about bargaining. Khaled may come from a big paper. But small papers don’t have bargaining power. Have we seen prothom alo bargain, the largest paper, if that example came then maybe small papers would dare.
   I mean since its the day of world freedom, I mean we celebrate this every year, but what happens from these discussions? Have we ever set an example the next day of free press, otherwise what is the point of these discussions.
   We know about journalists dying: Manik da, others. But why we can’t talk about the invisible pressure. We are in 2007, why can we still talk about this? We are not under BNP, we are not under ershad, not that military junta, whjy cant we sopeak. Why are we told that you cannot do this political program? Why are we called in and told we cannot report on certain things. It is 2007 and this is still happening. When will it stop?
   SHAHIDUL ALAM HOLDING UP POLICE PERMISSION THAT WAS NEEDED FOR THIS MEETING
   Tanvir: Look we ARE under amergency rule. We have something called a constitution. Article 41kha says we are actually not supposed to get even this level of press freedom under a State of Emergency. So even this much we are not supposed to get. So I feel we are getting more than we would expect.
   Syed Mahbub Morshed/(Naya Digantha): There is always pressure from the government. But I have seen personally, there is even more pressure from society. In 1991 I was in Shaptahik. I did a news about a bank. 66 crore taka of corruption. But the news was never published in my own paper. The owner said this is a small amount. Later I learnt there was a big exchange with that bank. There is a banking syndicate that decides where ads go. Now there are more sources, and still they wont print. We are not hostages to government, we are hostages to business. We are told what to write, and if we try to write against it we will lose jobs here, and won’t get jobs elsewhere either. Did Tipu get beaten by government, he got beaten by a godfather. Government won’t dare to beat him like this.
   Saiful/Janakantha: In last 12 years there are many examples of not running story. There was a story about a MNC last year, which Bangkok Post also ran, but our papers did not. And then next day there was a half page ad from than MNC. But our paper also resisted. But there is also lack of solidarity within media, other papers will pick up the ad when it dopesn’t run.
   Moin: I had personal experience of censorship. This idea that if you write it won’t do anything. So do journalists work as a profession, or they work as a social activist? Am I in an office job or am I on a mission? Look there are all these decisions being made about where rickshas can drive. Talk about worker solidarity. When there are threats to remove ricksha from street, media cares because most of them take rickshas. But they don’t think about the families. So what about responsibility, if we don’t take this on, who cares about our rights? There is a split between Dhaka and outside. The press clubs outside the capital is one camp, and the main city is another camp.
   SHAHIDUL JUST SWITCHED TO ENGLISH

   Munni Saha: This was a golden time to report everything that was happening, under the caretaker government. There was no pressure from any side. That was also when people has maximum interest.

   Khaled: Look military intelligence also produced much of the things that we also printed. So how is that reporting?
   Munni & Khaled now arguing. Is military intelligence a good source of news?
   Naeem: Talked about blogs
   Khaled Muhiuddin: Who did Hasina give her reaction to when she was offloaded from British Airways. She talked to BBC and Al Jazeera. We posted that news, we received 25 calls from an army colonel, and finally after 26th call we took it off. We get these calls, they are always from Colonel so and so, and they say we don’t want these things.
   Tipu Sultan: Actually the government is having high level meetings right now to figure out how they block websites. What they call “anti-state” websites or “non friendly” media. So they are coming and they will spend a lot of money to get the best technology so they can block it.
   Amirul Rajiv: I’m a photo journalist,. Two years ago the art college decided that photographers were making profits from taking pictures of student’s artwork. That MNCs can use those images to make profits in their own advertisements, etc. So they had a poster that said “dogs and photographers not allowed”. But this year they passed a law that no photographers allowed. And students have also taken this on with enthusiasm, they have attacked photographers, they have had conflict with us, and on special holidays. So even progressive organizations can take censorship steps. And the threat of physical harm is very serious especially for freelance photographers.
   Shishir Bhattacharya: I’m a professor at Art College. I heard about the harrassment of photographers later. This is shameful, and as professors we never imagined this would happen. We tried to make these things changed. But also we were in great difficulty with the “attacks” of photographers. I can’t take a stroke without photographers leaning over me. So this really gets in the way of your work. So yes we did differentiate, we did discriminate towards photographers from news media. I mean these are temporary, these won’t last.
   Kamruzzaman/BDnews24.com photographer: For a few days we were thrilled with finding deer, peacocks at the house of these godfathers who have been deposed. Then we heard about deer in a advisor’s house.l I wanted to go report on it. Then I got a call saying do you want to go to jail on a case where you can’t get bail. Well of course I didn’t want that. I want to work and live. So the blocks are at several levels. And another thing, why aren’t the owners of the major publishing houses here? They need to hear all this. Were they invited? And if so why did they not come?
   Parvez Babul: We need a society friendly to journalists. And to create that society, it is our role to create this. We are the kings of the 4th estate, so we cannot just have these talks on world press day. This has to be everybody.
   Rahnuma Ahmed (Drik): Just want to point out that you invited your “journalist brothers” to participate while saying “everybody”. Little gender issue there.
   Parvez: No I meant them too
   Rahnuma: Yes, right…(smiles)
   AFSAN TALKING IN ENGLISH[no translation]
   Mainul Islam Khan: A few weeks ago, I went to Bogra, nilfamari, and elsewhere. A Daily Star reporter was arrested and in jail for a few days. He printed a photo of some chaos in front of fertilizer dealer. The government called him in and also forced the dealer to write a petition saying this was “unethical” and then they managed to arrest him. Bogra has a total fertilizer crisis. When the bureau office reports on these things, a few papers report it together. Now another journalist was called in to explain why was this news in 4 columns, why on top half, why in red letters, why did you print this? But the stringer doesn’t decide what color, what size the news is. So they are going after stringers to explain why the central paper reports. So now we understand how wer should report, we see but don’t report. We see, but we don’t speak. In Dhaka you can resist these pressures more, but in rural areas it is much harder to manage these pressure. They have to worry about family, about income..and how much is that income anyway? But they still try to report. They want to report about coming droughts, they need to report about these things. But should they report or spend all their time explaining why did I file this report. These are the people who are supported the least. Also, one more thing, after all we are talking about World Press Freedom. How many of us know that a journalist was killed on March 5th. Jamaluddin, 25 years old, his dead body was found at rangamati Tourism Complex. Next door, there was a lake, and there was a tree– it was a scene of suicide from the tree. He was wearing shoes, and there was rope around his neck. I mean common sense, such a thin rope cannot hang you, nor can you climb a tree with that shoe on. But when the autopsy report, it claimed that it was suicide. But journalists have been told not to write about it.
   Probir Sikdar: My sister Munni Saha said, we see these visible signs of attack. But the invisible oppression is not stopped. We need to use the visible incidents to try to stop the invisible incidents as well. People are only brave as long as they are honest. Are we honest enough to resist the pressure from our owners. We need to think about new journalists as well.
   Mahbub: How can you resist the commercial pressure? We journalists are the root of dishonesty. There was a university movement to bring up the issues around cell phones, but each main student was given 60,000 Taka as a payoff and the movement was squashed. [Talking about cell phone companies again.]
   Tipu Sultan: From hearing Mahbub bhai, it seems the mobile companies are the main problem of this country? Can it really be? Or when Yunus ran for election, everyone went after Grameen Bank. Then they started wondering “why is their not negative reporting on Grameen Bank”? If Fazle Abed goes into politics, they will come after BRAC. Maybe they will even say DRIK is full of flaws. I mean there are so many things to report, but it seems we spend all our time on this. If you want to report on any irregularity or any corruption, you have to get documents from government ministries. So you have to either get through your connections. And of course there is the official secrets act.
   The risk is really borne by rural journalists, not the ones in Dhaka city. Because they don’t dare tiuch the ones in the main city. But when journalists are attacked and need help, even the papers that could help them, have the money.
   Mahbub bhai said people beat me, not government. Well I invite him to drink the coffee, then he may understand the taste of the coffee. Now journalists keep getting invited into joint forces’ camps. They also invite you to coffee. If we don’t discuss this now, later there will be no going back. Inviting you for coffee and telling you what to report, well that is its own kind of pressure.
   Andrew Biraj (New Age Photojournalist): Some people pointing out that the government, maybe joint forces, maybe army is pushing us. But there is also the issue of honesty. We hear of journalists receiving gifts from mobile phones. It seems journalists did not go to the World Cup because Grameen Phone did not sponsor them.
   We see two newspapers fighting each other, attacking each other’s character. Instead of reporting on certain news? What about Asia Energy in Phulbari, when they were looting the resources. What about Khulna workers not getting salary for months. It only became lead news when laborers started winning. Even some newspapers were trying to distract people. We need to speak up even inside our own houses.
   Momena Jalil (New Age): After sitting here, Shahidul reminded me that you are journalist, you are not supposed to do this. We keep getting sent to take photos of shops, or pretty things. Or I get sent to do women stories. As if that is all I can do.
   [Speaking about photographers rights]
   Munem Wasif: Every newspaper has a particular politics. Can we raise questions about the politics of those newspaper. Now I feel like prothom alo and daily star is like a political party, just like AL and BNP. What is real issue is what are the things we don’t print. What about CNN BBC’s political position in the Iraq invasion? Do they have a political position. These are the media where if we get printed we would feel we made it is as a journalist.
   What about bringing into the center those who we photograph and make our living. Those we try to represent.

   Bisyas: [indistinct]

   Shamakal: In media there is always a hero and villain. For us the villain is the militant islamist terrorist. But we never investigate the creation of this villain figure. When the main newspapers– the 2 big bengali english papers– when they print long stories, that gets translated by our neigboring country. There is a new kind of embedded journalism in this country, that did not even exist during the 80s military. We are like the 1001 nights, we have to keep telling stories every night so we can stay alive. So they cannot strangle us, but we won’t tell the truth.

   Afsan: I have analyzed the papers of last 3 years, you will see the main villain in last 5 years, it was the Maoists not the Islamists. If Maoists were murdered, there was no protest.

   Rubel: [indistinct] This journalist was fired after printing a story. Then I worked at Amader Shomoy. Wanted to report on something. Then I was told you cannot do reporting on this.
   I was told this kind of reporting is “positive” reporting. But when you come to those phone companies, and want to do positive stories, they don’t care– they feel they have already bought you. But when i found negative news. About some big corruption with Telenor, I was scolded and that was the end of that story. I did three stories like this, and then I lost that job as well.
   After Jamaluddin was killed, they caught one of his killers, so how did they pass this off as suicide.

   Arup Kumar Saha (JaiJaidin): As far as I know, I was a university reporter, when we first did movement about this, but we also printed the news about this. But at one point it felt that it was just becoming anti-Grameen.

   Speaker: [Speaking about commercial pressures]

   [Wrapping up soon]

   Tipu Sultan: One colleague said, militant reporting translated from Indian papers. But the report he is referring to are by me, I have been following not from a neighboring country. So if you believe me, you have to change your opinion.

   Shahidul Alam: Wrapup. Thanks to Givan Bela/Okno.

   Also a pradctical suggestion from Amirul Rajiv.

   We will put up a new URL with instructions on how to post reports of censorship @

   http://drik.net/webcast

   So please check in later.

   Posted in Webcast | No Comments »
   Webcast Pictures
   May 3rd, 2007
   Read the rest of this entry »

   Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

   CLICK FOR LIVE BROADCAST
   Presentations by
   K Mohiuddin, BDNews24.com Munni Saha, ATN Bangla Tipu Sultan, Prothom Alo Probir Sikdar, Samakal M I Khan, RSF.org Afsan Chowdhury, “Media In Times Of Crisis”

   Moderated byShahidul Alam, Drik
   Simultaneous TranslationNaeem Mohaiemen
   Streaming SupportGivan Bela, Okno.ne
   Technical SupportAzizur R Peu & DrikNews A S M Rezaur Rahman Abdullah Al Rajib Md Kamal Abul Kashem Shefali Akter Shetu Entire Drik Family Naeem Mohaiemen
   Thanks toNat Muller, Dutch Electronic Arts Festival
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