Minister’s news organisations sack journalists amid coronavirus crisis

Many news organisations are sacking journalists leaving them to face great uncertainty with their families amid the coronavirus crisis that has ravaged the media industry.

More than a dozen journalists have been retrenched from Gazi TV and online news portal Sara Bangla, both owned by Textile and Jute Minister Golam Dastagir Gazi.

The number of workers sacked from SA TV, owned by Jatiya Party leader and courier business owner Salauddin Ahmed, is around 50.

The others that have fired workers include daily the Alokito Bangladesh and online news portal Agami News.

Meanwhile, many media workers fear dismissal as different newspapers, including the Manab Zamin, Dainik Bangladesher Khabor, Alokito Bangladesh, Dainik Deshkal, and The Independent, have gone online only, halting print editions.

As many as 1,250 newspapers are currently being published in Bangladesh, according to Information Minister Hasan Mahmud, who had urged the media outlets not to fire workers amid the pandemic.

The government has awarded licences to 54 private TV stations and 30 of them are currently in operation, he said.

On Friday, Gazi TV terminated the jobs of several journalists, including two newsroom editors, without prior notice.

Sara Bangla’s executive editor also resigned when four journalists, including a news editor, were asked to step down.

Contacted for comments, its Editor-in-Chief Ishtiaque Reza said he would speak about the issue later.

Alokito Bangladesh also fired five journalists on Friday.

The newspaper authorities were forced to cut the jobs as it continued to make losses after spending Tk 700 million in seven years, Publisher and Editor Kazi Rafiqul Alam said.

He said the sacked journalists would get termination benefits.

Uncertainty over jobs gripped the media professionals after SA TV fired 32 and Agami News seven in the last week of March after the nationwide lockdown over the outbreak began.

SA TV Managing Director Salauddin Ahmed said the decision to fire the journalists was based on evaluation of their work, not the coronavirus crisis. They don’t have any unpaid dues, he claimed.

Different organisations of journalists, including the Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists, Dhaka Union of Journalists and Dhaka Reporters Unity, have expressed concerns over the sacking of the media workers.

“Job cuts are not expected of any organisation when the people’s lives and livelihoods are at stake due to the coronavirus,” BFUJ President Molla Jalal told bdnews24.com.

He alleged owners of many news organisations were firing workers after using their organisations to secure business facilities from the government.

DUJ President Quddus Afrad condemned the sacking of journalists even after warnings from the government.

He demanded the fired journalists be reinstated in their jobs.