Toufique Imrose Khalidi slams TV stations for mix of ownership and editorial roles

A lack of guidelines in the licensing of TV stations has created a crisis in the media, according to Toufique Imrose Khalidi, editor-in-chief of bdnews24.com.

The government did not follow clear criteria for awarding the licences, effectively blurring the lines between the ownership of TV channels and editorial responsibilities, Khalidi said in a talk-show on private broadcaster Ekattor TV on Saturday.

Now they spend most of their time jockeying at the Prime Minister’s Office or the secretariat or government agencies for favours, he said. “This is what will become of the media if they are involved in running the outlets.”

Nur Safa Julhaz hosted the talk-show to turn the spotlight on the “information war and politics of the media” in an attempt to critique an Al Jazeera report, “All the Prime Minister’s Men”.

Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, the prime minister’s adviser on power and energy, also joined the show. Khalidi’s comments on private broadcasters came after Chowdhury defended the government’s decision to issue so many television licences, arguing that the guidelines will draw public criticism to the government that it is curbing the media freedom.

Chowdhury said he was happy to see so many newspapers and TV and radio stations operating in Bangladesh. Khalidi then cut in and criticised the rationale for awarding TV station licences without any policy.

Toufique Imrose Khalidi, editor-in-chief of bdnews24.com

Khalidi also questioned the competence of government agencies in the handling of the media. Officials of these agencies do and pass everything in the name of the prime minister, tainting her image.

“Many agencies that deal with the media do not have sufficiently trained or experienced officials for the job,” Khalidi said.

But they are ordering the media what and what not to do, only saying that the prime minster wants it, according to Khalidi. “They are faceless people. No one knows them. They come for six months and move on to another agency with a promotion leaving their mess behind. But who is taking the blame? The head of the government and, by extension, Bangladesh,” he said.

Khalidi also responded to a question on whether “misleading information” is making the rounds on social media due to a lack of clarity in the government’s response to the Al Jazeera report.

Julhaz asked whether Khalidi believes the government should explain the allegations stacked against the army chief and his brothers in the report.

Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, the prime minister’s adviser on power and energy.

“The government should always make things clear, not just when an issue revolves around the army chief or other officials of consequence. The people deserve and expect this because it is the taxpayer money that runs the country,” he said.

“The problem is, when you don’t get enough space for ventilation, you will ventilate in different other ways,” said Khalidi. Social media will be a place for ventilation and some will do it from abroad, he said. 

Khalidi pointed out that fake IDs were used to bombard his verified social media page with “abusive and offensive” comments.

Chowdhury dismissed the Al Jazeera report as a “conspiracy” to taint the government’s image and said the government suffered “such attacks” earlier as well despite its efforts to develop Bangladesh.

AL JAZEERA REPORT AND RESPONSE

In the beginning of the show, PM’s Adviser Chowdhury said many people, who could not accept Bangladesh’s independence and “struggle against international forces”, get involved in conspiracies against Bangladesh whenever it makes progress.

“In the surroundings of media, many things happen in the name of media. Many noises. How will the government pay attention to these when our initial duty is to focus on people’s lives,” he said.

Chowdhury said he had seen before that Al Jazeera broadcast reports against Bangladesh, even some “negative ones” on the Rohingya, whom Bangladesh has sheltered on humanitarian grounds.

“This is our response to all the conspiracies – we will never deviate from our path and never lose focus. We don’t need to fight with them everyday. They don’t deserve answers every morning.

“They will continue doing these things whether you respond or not. And we will continue working to take the country forward,” he remarked in his riposte.

Host Julhaz asked Khalidi whether he thought it was necessary to take the Al Jazeera report seriously.

The bdnews24.com editor-in-chief said a lot of importance has already been attached to the report since the government, the army, and Bangladesh Police Service Association came up with statements.

In short, Khalidi said, he smells conspiracy and a lack of professionalism in the Al Jazeera report.

“My instant reaction was that it was not something good. Whether it's true or false is entirely a different matter,” he said.

He also questioned the credibility of the Al Jazeera team that covers Bangladesh.

“Al Jazeera has been built as a great institution, but it has some weaknesses as regards its position and its owners. Some parts of Al Jazeera do some good work We’ve seen this in the past eight to 10 years. But whenever they covered Bangladesh, they did not do it well.”      

It happens because those who work on Bangladesh issues at Al Jazeera do not have a sound knowledge of the country while some are influenced by the political or social polarisation in Bangladesh.

Khalidi said all the international media outlets have the same problem as Al Jazeera about Bangladesh.

He has long been noticing that the international media reports about Bangladesh lack proper information. “They have problems in data, homework and research. And we become the victim.”

Dhaka has never been an important place for newsgathering, pointed out Khalidi who has followed the matter closely for three decades, watching someone sent from New Delhi to cover events in Bangladesh.

“In Al Jazeera’s case, not very skilled people are covering Bangladesh. That’s why others were able to influence them.

“And their supervisory authority does not give importance to Bangladesh in many cases. This is how they get away with doing (such a bad job),” Khalidi said.

He again raised the issue of competency of Bangladesh government officials in their handling of the media.

“Are the ambassador in Qatar and others equipped to deal with these people?” he asked, noting that Al Jazeera is based in Doha.

“Is there any press officer? And who do we send as press officers? Journalists. Please note that there are differences between journalists and publicists. If we make decisions without knowing these differences, it won’t work.”