Broadcast law will bring relief to journalists, says information minister

The broadcast law, once passed in parliament, will bring relief to journalists, Information Minister Hasanul Huq Inu has said.

He inaugurated a rally of the Broadcast Producers Association or BPA in front of the National Press Club in Dhaka marking the World Television Day on Tuesday

The law will pave the way for a national broadcast commission that will set policies for all the news media outlets and also fix how much advertisements they will get and at what rate.

“I hope to present the broadcast law, which aims to manage the ever-expanding media industry, in the upcoming winter session of parliament,” Inu said, “It will pave the way for a broadcast commission that will bring particularly the electronic media under supervision.”

“I took the initial step to outline the law. And now after two years of discussions, the law is almost ready. It will help remove all our fears,” he said addressing journalists present at the event.

The draft of the law will be available on the ministry’s website for feedbacks from related sectors, he added.

"The biggest limitation of the Bangladesh Television (BTV) is that it depends solely on advertisements. It never got a penny from the distribution channel,” said Nur Safa Zulhaj, General Secretary of BPA.

“We believe that a policy should ensure that television channels are getting money directly from the viewers through subscription to the distribution channel,” he said while making recommendation to the minister on behalf of his organisation. “This will make the channels financially resilient.”

Zulhaj also asked the minister to declare television as a “medium of art” on a national level.

Inu called for measures to stop the use of wrong language and pronunciation on television.

“It is sad that the makers are putting vulgar dialogues in their plays. The languages that they call ‘dialect’ are distasteful,” said National Press Club President Mohammad Shafiqur Rahman.

“It is mass media. It plays the role of a teacher,” he pointed out.