'No irresponsible free speech'

Dhaka, Dec 20 (bdnews24.com) — The editor-in-chief of bdnews24.com has launched call for guidelines to set the standards for public discourse on social media alongside regulating news media, who are perceived to be frequently testing the limits.

"Speech must be responsible to be free. There is a social and cultural necessity for freedom of responsible speech," Toufique Imrose Khalidi said at the newspaper's fifth anniversary dinner.

"(But) there has to be some discipline in the way the state manages the media. The decision makers must be guided by reason," he added at the Radisson Hotel in Dhaka Tuesday evening.

Besides presenting bdnews24.com's current activities and future plans, he also spoke about crisis and possibilities of presenting news on the Internet.

Policymakers in the government, judges, lawyers, politicians, businessmen, entrepreneurs, poets, sportsmen, top army officers, cultural activists — leading personalities from the entire spectrum of society attended the programme.

Organiers say it is "a fantastic opportunity" to reflect on bdnews24.com's role as a pioneer and innovator.

It offers a range of real-time news coverage for online readers replete with critical information to pick and click; it gathers and delivers news, based on accuracy and consistency on the web 24 hours, with the highest standards of professionalism, integrity and ethical journalism.

bdnews24.com says their newsroom never sleeps.

Khalidi gave a brief glimpse of bdnews24.com's operations. Photos and videos were also shown.

A beta version of bdnews24.com was launched by legendary woman freedom fighter Khurshid Jahan Begum.

Khurshid Jahan was one of the thousands who joined the war of independence in 1971 with a five-month infant in her arms, and 40 years on, she hit the headlines when bdnews24.com ran a report on her on the 40th Victory Day.

Khalidi, also the managing director of the owning company Bangladesh News 24 Hours limited, called on authorities for "faster and cheaper Internet that almost the rest of the world has got already".

Referring to the editorial gatekeeping of the online news portal that even extends to its blogs, he said it is true that there is "certainly a greater degree of freedom on blogs".

But Khalidi advocated for media checks and balance.

"I am sorry I am not a great supporter of absolutely free speech as some bloggers try to advocate," he told a select audience of public policymakers, judges, lawyers, politicians, businessmen, entrepreneurs, poets, sportsmen, top army officers, cultural activists.

"What we see on blogs here in Bangladesh is the result of poor decision-making by the powers that be at various points in our history. I say this today because a very senior politician has recently raised this point.

"I agree with him, but I also ask him to take part of the collective blame for failing to behave responsibly as a decision maker.

"I agree with this view that the dream of absolute free speech is a delusion. This is a myth no society has ever granted.

Khalidi warned that the political class is at the risk of paying "the heaviest price" if the "media scene continues to remain as unruly as it has been for quite some time now".

Continued the senior journalist: "The chaotic media scene portends bad for the political process."

"No one should be allowed to incite religious hatred or defame individuals on blogs or social media – Facebook or Twitter. This is plain and simple crime.

"The government must create new laws to fight such crimes."

But the editor-in-chief said in no unclear terms that he would be "the last person to advocate regulation of the media by a monstrous state agency". He added in the same breath: "But just everyone should not be allowed to own or run media entities.

Khalidi stressed on the need for objectivity in news and urged for formulating a clear guideline for mass media.

"You cannot possibly have 10 or 20 news agencies producing or selling content.

"And not everyone should be allowed to disseminate information or news even through mobile phones. We must decide on the criteria. We must have some regulation.

"I see no problem in having 100 TV stations, but not everyone should be doing news. That is a discussion that has to be done at the very highest level of decision-making in the country."

THE STORY OF BREAKING NEWS

Opening his speech, the editor-in-chief shared with the guests the experiences from bdnews24.com newsroom, which he said produced content for a wide range of audience – from the kind of people that the guests were to those who could barely read.

"This is a newsgathering operation that never relents," he said, "If there's a story breaking at three o' clock in the morning, you get that update in minutes. Literally minutes."

"We target the entire world," he said. If a reader was in Bangladesh, they would get that when they wake up in the morning as breakfast headlines, he said, referring to bdnews24.com's morning sms service, to which thousands of people are registered.

If the reader was in North America, he said, at work or on the move they could get the update on a desktop or laptop or a palm top.

"Twenty million Bangladeshis have access to Internet," Khalidi said, without failing to cite the chairman of the BTRC.

"Reaching even 10 percent of that number means we equal the circulation figure for all newspapers in Bangladesh put together," he pointed out.

According to government figures, the 400-odd papers across Bangladesh sell around two million copies.

Readers hit nearly 40 million times on several bdnews24.com pages every month. The site is hit from 300,000 IP addresses daily; sometimes the figure goes as high as 500,000.

Launched in 2006, the first online newspaper has become one of the most reliable and authentic sources of news.

It offers a range of real-time news coverage for online readers replete with critical information to pick and click; it gathers and delivers news, based on accuracy and consistency on the web 24 hours, with the highest standards of professionalism, integrity and ethical journalism.

"We compete with live TV and we enjoy it," Khalidi said, reminding his audience that in Bangladesh, the website introduced scrolls or tickers giving as-it-happens updates, which the TV channels followed.

Some newspapers started giving more than one update in 24 hours, eventually trying to upgrade into a 24/7 operation.

"We enjoyed that too," the senior journalist said with a smile.

DRAWBACKS

He said over the years bdnews24.com had thoroughly enjoyed competing with 'the traditional media', and winning in most cases.

Even so, he thinks it could have done better.

"Just give us faster and cheaper Internet that almost the rest of the world has got already, and we guarantee a great rate of return on the investment."

Cheaper and faster internet could solve many other problems, such as quality of education and public health care system, he said.

THE ALL-AROUND NEWSPAPER

"It's been a fantastic five years leading and innovating ways to present news to a wide range of people," Khalidi said happily.

He then described bdnews24.com's exclusively-for-children website.

"Very often, at social events, I get some sort of ovation from pre-teen children, thanks to our kidz.bdnews24.com."

The Virtual Magazines or V-mags, another first in Bangladesh, are another innovation that tries to take care of the old habits of reading paper magazines.

tech.bdnews24.com, the site for technology content, gives all the latest news on innovations as well as new gadgets that hit the shops anywhere in the world.

Contrary to their image as technophobes or Internetphobes, many Bangladeshi poets and writers write on the web at arts.bdnews24.com, and they also have a large readership from many different countries.

The glitz.bdnews24.com offers all the latest from the world of glamour, but not much of gossip, he added.

THE EDITOR'S TOUCH

What has been the editorial stance at bdnews24.com over the years? Toufique Imrose Khalidi said one example says it all.

"One Farzana in rural Bangladesh says a resounding NO to her just-pronounced husband. Is that news? We thought that was really big. And we went really big," he told his audience at the Radisson.

"Two school teachers have been punished. Farzana Yasmin has received phone calls from cabinet ministers.

"But above everything, thousands have debated the issue on social media, leading to alarm bells or wakeup calls ringing in all the right places," he continued.

But Khalidi added that equal editorial care was given at bdnews24.com to even the smallest of stories.

"For us, news is news," he said.

Official transcript of the speech