Human rights activists and former adviser to the caretaker government, advocate Sultana Kamal, said yesterday that people are now afraid of expressing their opinion publicly. Sultana Kamal said this while addressing a discussion on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, organised by UNESCO Bangladesh, Mass Line Media Centre and the Institute of Communications Studies at the CIRDAP auditorium in the capital.
“There is no denying the fact that people are afraid of expressing their opinion. It is against the spirit of the Liberation War if people cannot speak up or express opinion freely. It is not that the government will do everything. Citizens have their duties, too. We have the deficit in the matter of practising democracy,” she added.
At another programme on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, information minister Hasanul Huq Inu said that instead of curbing its freedom, the government was working to make law to institutionalise the media.
“The government is drawing up a broadcast policy and online police not for curbing its freedom, but to institutionalise the media,” he added. “There are some laws which do not go with the present times. They have to be modernised. The freedom of the media does not mean expressing opinions to instigate others. The media has to be more responsible,” he said.
Inu also said that the government’s intention was not to put pressure on the media. “We are not making any law which will be against the media. The government has ensured the right to get information. The government never considers the media as its opponent,” he added.
About foreign TV channels, the minister said: “Many people are in favour of imposing stricter rules and regulations on aggressive foreign channels. We are planning to impose tax on advertisements shown on those channels instead of programmes or news.” Various organisations observed World Press Freedom Day yesterday. The Freelance Journalists’ Association of Bangladesh, in a statement, expressed concern over the safety of journalists across the world.  
Deploring murders and repression of journalists, Golam Kader, president of the Freelance Journalists’ Association of Bangladesh, said that compared to the past, killing and repression of scribes have gone up. “What is imperative now is the unity of journalists. Instead of being divided under the banners of political parties, we should remain united. The united journalist community has faced many bigger challenges in the past and it would do so in future too,” he observed.
Proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in December 1993, World Press Freedom Day is observed on May 3 worldwide following the recommendation of UNESCO’s general conference.