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Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ) and Dhaka Union of Journalists (DUJ) have expressed deep concern over the Bangladesh Police Service Association's (BPSA) statement on reporting against former and current police officials.
BFUJ president Omar Faruk, secretary general Deep Azad and DUJ president Sohel Haider Chowdhury and general secretary Akhter Hossain expressed the concern in a joint statement on Saturday.
They observed that the media recently published detailed news on unusual wealth amassed by some powerful current and former government officials.
"We believe the professional journalists-having no ill intention-- have prepared the stories based on documents obtained, their proper verification and proof-ability," said the statement.
"However, we believe that after publications of the news, the way some leaders and some organisations have expressed their reactions are threats to free journalism," the statement added.
All information made available with government statements, speeches, published on websites or at the press conferences are important; journalists prepare news from this information, it said.
"However the main responsibility of journalists is to investigate and reveal the information, which the influential people want to hide, and prepare detail story aimed at publicising them through professionalism," the statement said adding that hopefully, some informative news about influential quarters has already been published.
There is no rationale to get agitated for the news.
"In this case, the responsibility of those who published the news is to prove all the facts, and in contrast, the people whose against the news was published should take measures to defend the information," they said.
In this backdrop, blaming each other is not a decent practice, the journalists bodies said, adding one should take help of press council if they are dissatisfied.
BFUJ and DUJ leaders believe that if an officer commits corruption, it is his personal issue not a matter of any force.
BFUJ and DUJ want to make it clear that even in the face of threats and intimidation, journalists will continue to accomplish their professional responsibilities based on authentic information.
BFUJ and DUJ therefore hope that all parties concerned will refrain from making statements that hamper the environment of independent journalism since the right to freedom of expression and independent journalism is recognised in the constitution itself, the statement added.
Earlier on Friday, Bangladesh Police Service Association (BPSA) issued a statement blaming that local print-electronic media and social media has been publishing intentional and gross reports against current and former police officials.