Child truth-seekers who will shape Bangladesh

Hello’s child journalism festival has begun in 23 districts with countrywide selections being made from among young enthusiasts.

Hello’s child journalist fest begins

The world’s first specialised Bangla child journalism site, hello.bdnews24.com, launched the programme through an event at the Ocean Paradise Hotel in Cox’s Bazar on Monday.

Speaking at the inauguration, Zunaid Ahmed Palak, the state minister for ICT, said the future leaders of the nation were among these children.

“You must go forward to build the nation as soldiers of truth,” he said.

bdnews24.com Editor-in-Chief Toufique Imrose Khalidi said he hoped these juvenile journalists would one day redeem the failures of the older generations.

Souvenirs were handed out to 173 children from various parts of Cox’s Bazar who took part in Hello’s selection test on Aug 22.

Of them, 20 selected participants have received training on journalism and child rights.

The event, sponsored by Grameenphone, was streamed live on bdnews24.com.

Children from Chittagong, Cox's Bazar, Bandarban, Feni, Noakhali, Sylhet, Moulavibazar, Rajshahi, Dinajpur, Rangpur, Chapainawabganj, Pabna, Bogra, Mymensingh, Tangail, Madaripur, Gopalganj, Faridpur, Khulna, Jessore, Barisal, Jhalakathi and Narail are also taking part in Hello’s selection process.

The programme, organised by bdnews24.com, is running simultaneously in 23 districts.

A group of artistes from Udichi sang the national anthem at the beginning of the event.

Palak, the youngest minister in the Cabinet, told the children: “We have to work for the nation and humanity. You have to bring out the truth from all spheres of society.”

“The future leaders of this nation must move ahead with honesty and morality.”

He encouraged the children to become IT-friendly.

The state minister urged the participants to get ready to build a 'golden Bangladesh' as envisioned by the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

"Both you and your words will go far," he said.

In his inaugural speech, Editor-in-Chief Khalidi emphasised the importance of ethics in journalism.

Local MP Saimum Sarwar Kamal, reserve seat MP Khorshed Ara Haque, Cox's Bazar Deputy Commissioner Md Ruhul Amin, freedom fighter Syed Ragib Ali, surfer Zafar Alam, among others, were present at the programme.

The specialised children news website, hello.bdnews24.com, was launched on Mar 31 last year.

Children and adolescent journalists gather and present news on the website run by Bangladesh's first internet-only newspaper – bdnews24.com.

Hello's Executive Editor Mujtaba Hakim Plato said there were currently more than 5,000 children and teens involved with Hello.

“Trained child journalists will play a role in the mainstream media under the supervision of bdnews24.com’s experienced journalists. Their reports will be open for all news media in Bangladesh.”

‘They want to wake up and awaken others’

bdnews24.com Chief Editor Toufique Imrose Khalidi noted the enthusiasm of the children – which was almost infectious – and was optimistic that they would go far.

“They have interest, they have drive. They want to know and share what they know.

"They want to wake up and awaken others,” he said of the young journalists.

Khalidi lamented the lack of support for children during his time saying the nation had 'not done enough' of what should be done for the children back then.

A career journalist having plied his trade for over two decades, he said Bangladesh could have done better but for “us who could not do a great deal”.

“This country deserved more…I believe you will move forward overcoming our failures [as children].

"Your success will make up for our failures,” Khalidi hoped.

Highlighting Palak’s rise in politics he said the face of the country would change if his ministry had "even partial success".

 

“Children need role models and I believe this state minister is truly a model for them,” he added.

He pointed out that the sitting arrangements had been designed with only children in mind – no chief guest, no special guest, only the children are most important here.

The editor-in-chief also spoke of bdnews24.com’s bold move in Bangladesh eight years ago to begin delivering news on the internet for timeliness and relevance.

Khalidi said there were over 100 million mobile-phone users and around 40 million internet subscribers in Bangladesh, a testimony to the country's advances in information and technology sectors.

He noted that the collective circulation of newspapers stood at 1-1.2 million against 40 million internet connections.

If 10 percent of the internet connections are used for reading news, the circulation would be 4 million.

"Bangladesh has made progress, perhaps not as much as it was supposed to," he said. "That's why we want to depend on you."

Reflecting on his 27-year career as a journalist, Khalidi said the profession had some ‘basic guiding principles’.

The chief editor said efforts would be made to teach the children the principles through training and added that books had been written in cooperation with UNICEF to do that.

Toufique Khalidi mentioned bdnews24.com’s pioneering role to develop journalism by children and said that discussions were going on to spread this child journalism model across the world.

Emphasising journalism ethics, he said: "Democracy, democratic institutions in the country will flourish, and the state organs will function more effectively if only the media works properly."