Daily Star breached code of conduct in journalism: Press Council

The Press Council has accused The Daily Star of 'professional misconduct' and violations of ethical practices in journalism.

The council reprimanded and warned a reporter and also expected the editor to verify facts meticulously before publishing news in future.

The council’s verdict came after a series of hearings on the case filed last year by Prashanta Kumar Majumder, an official of the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) against nine stories which the complainant said were “biased and untrue”.

Council Chairman Justice Mamtaz Uddin Ahmed and members Reaz Uddin Ahmed and Sapan Das Gupta came up with the verdict after hearing the case on Oct 19, Nov 7 and Nov 29, 2017.

The response from the newspaper was also taken into consideration in reaching the verdict.

bdnews24.com received a copy of the 17-page verdict passed by the Press Council on Jan 18.

It says "the judging committee, based on the complainant's petition, the response from the defendant and arguments from both sides, reached a consensus that the newspaper’s staff correspondent submitted a fabricated report (BSMMU Nurse Recruitment: ‘Proof not found’ against anomalies or assault by VC) which appeared on Apr 4, 2017. By publishing the last part of the (probe committee) report, the newspaper violated the journalistic code of ethics which is nothing but a professional misconduct."

The judgment said the reporter tried to “misdirect” the investigation findings by the university probe committee by seeking opinions from Dr ASM Zakaria Swapan, the then vice-chancellor of BSMMU (who died in February this year).

The news certainly undermined the VC’s personal life and social position, it said.

“Dr Zakaria’s statement showed he does not acknowledge the investigation committee’s report. So he lost his moral right to hold such a responsible position in the university,” it said.

The verdict also said the defendant did not publish a rejoinder following the code of conduct of Press Council which was against journalistic rules.

The Press Council asked The Daily Star to publish the verdict within 15 days of getting it and also to submit a copy of the newspaper to the council.

It also said the plaintiff can publish the full verdict at his own cost in any newspaper with a copy sent to the council.

The Daily Star is now consulting with lawyers for its next step as it has 15 days to act, its Editor Mahfuz Anam told bdnews24.com on Wednesday.

“The incident demeaned me socially and now the verdict has lessened my pain to some extent,” Prof Qamrul Hasan Khan, vice-chancellor of BSMMU, told bdnews24.com.