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Published : 22 Jun 2026, 07:49 PM
Bangladesh Television (BTV) has spent more than 32 times what it earned in the first 11 months of the ongoing fiscal year, Information and Broadcasting Minister Zahir Uddin Swapon has said.
Responding to a question from Naogaon-3 MP Fazle Huda in parliament on Monday, the minister said the state-run broadcaster earned Tk 80.5 million, including taxes, between July 2025 and May 2026, while its expenditure stood at Tk 2.54 billion.
The information was placed before the House during the question-answer session chaired by Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmad.
According to the minister, BTV earned Tk 276 million in fiscal year 2024-25, while its expenditure was nearly Tk 3.08 billion.
Of the ongoing fiscal year's income, Tk 50.7 million came from advertising revenue.
The figures provided by the minister show that BTV earned Tk 340.5 million and spent Tk nearly 2.81 billion in fiscal year 2020-21.
In 2021-22, its income was Tk 402.6 million against expenditure of over Tk 2.85 billion.
Income stood at Tk 308.7 million in 2022-23, while spending reached nearly Tk 3.71 billion.
The broadcaster recorded its highest income in the past six fiscal years in 2023-24, when earnings rose to more than Tk 442 million. Expenditure that year was nearly Tk 2.99 billion.
No explanation was provided in parliament regarding the persistent gap between BTV's income and expenditure.
300 Facebook Accounts Flagged for Misinformation
Replying to a question from Jamalpur-3 MP Mostafizur Rahman Babul, the minister said the government was operating the "BanglaFact" initiative to counter propaganda, misinformation and misleading content.
He said BanglaFact has so far published 783 fact-checks, analyses, investigative reports and videos or reels, including 229 since the current government took office.
The minister said BanglaFact had identified 16 websites that publish propaganda and misinformation while imitating newspapers and television channels.
More than 300 Facebook accounts and 199 X accounts that allegedly spread false and misleading information have also been identified, he added.
Amending Law on Journalists' Qualifications
Responding to a question from Jamalpur-5 MP Shah Mohammad Waresh Ali Mamun, the minister said the government had taken steps to set professional standards for journalists to curb fake journalism.
He said work was under way to amend the Press Council Act, 1974, to include specific provisions on educational qualifications, registration and a database for media professionals.
The Press Council is also updating information received from 32 districts to create an online database of recognised media workers, he added.
55 Private TV Channels Licensed, 39 On Air
In reply to a question from Dhaka-19 MP Dewan Mohammad Salahuddin, the minister said Bangladesh currently has 55 licensed private television stations, of which 39 are broadcasting.
He said the country has 1,436 daily newspapers, including 593 published from Dhaka and 843 from outside the capital.
According to the minister, there are 474 registered online news portals. Of these, 282 are standalone online news portals, 131 are online editions of daily newspapers and 61 are regional online news portals.
Replying to a question from Chattogram-3 MP Sarwar Jamal Nizam, the minister said 40 private television channels had been approved over the past 15 years, while six had subsequently been shut down.
