Published :
Updated :
For all latest news, follow The Financial Express Google News channel.
“The media is the most powerful force on the planet. It has the power to make the innocent guilty and the guilty innocent — and that’s power.” — Malcolm X.
Bangladesh stands at the crossroads—a time weighed down by history and its potential. With the emergence of the historic July 36 revolution — a democratic awakening of the people that brought down Sheikh Hasina’s autocratic regime — the people of Bangladesh placed new moral leadership in trust to guide the nation toward justice, transparency, and regeneration. That faith is now in action. The vision of a global world of just, equitable, and vision-guided media is no longer an elusive reality; it is an imperative today. In a nation that has borne the scars of disinformation, censorship, and discrimination for so long, reforming the media sector is not merely an issue of policy; it is a matter of conscience.
Media is not only a communication tool. It is the heartbeat of democracy, the conscience of the nation, and the voice of people with low incomes. It shapes public opinion, holds people accountable, and gives meaning to democratic ideals. Without active and moral media, governance and justice die.
Through visionary and bold initiative, the Interim Government (IG) of Bangladesh, under the leadership of Nobel Peace Laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus, has established the Media Reform Commission. After months of tireless research, all-encompassing consultation, and evidence-based inquiry, the Commission now submits a comprehensive and actionable report for initiating a democratic renaissance in the nation’s media space.
Hearing calls for reform from popular sentiment on the fly and working in the spirit of actual reform, the CA has taken the prudent step of outlining a gentle, doable agenda of priorities for media reform. These are not pie-in-the-sky notions, but concrete, time-framed actions that can be taken immediately to spur a democratic tide. The Commission has submitted a carefully chosen and timely list of recommendations, laid out in a concise, executable style. The recommendations are offered with an eye to execution from day one and have one clear-cut intention about three compelling objectives: maintaining press freedom, reviving public interest journalism, and restoring institutional credibility to Bangladesh’s media.
Time is limited, though. Doing nothing will not only pose a loss of the moral lead of the revolution, but it will also be viewed by the people, the press, and the international community as a failure on their part and a betrayal of their democratic dreams. The legitimacy of the interim government would quickly erode if it appeared to be doing nothing or more of the same old business as usual.
There is also unpleasant reality which cannot be ignored: officials operating within established bureaucratic mechanisms—purportedly most of whom are still beholden to the deposed regime—can attempt to block, dilute, or postpone these reforms in the interest of procedural caution. Their default resistance could represent the most significant internal challenge to the CA’s office reform agenda.
It is a moment in time that requires courage, clarity, and conviction. The IG should tackle the implementation of these suggestions like a burdensome responsibility of a bygone era, not as an ordinary exercise of governance. Each passing day only serves to erode the revolutionary promise that this government had promised to deliver. The fleeting nature of this moment for genuine reform is now. Let us not be able to claim that when history beckoned, we were absent.
The objective of this article is to call attention to the key goals and concise steps outlined in the Commission report, wise, non-partisan changes aligned with democratic principles.
Media Licensing and Operational Transparency: Free and impartial media infrastructure begins not with headlines, but with the below-the-radar pillars that regulate access to broadcasting and publication rights. In Bangladesh, the media’s licensing system has long suffered from a lack of transparency, politicization, and institutional weakness. Licensing has also too often been granted as much out of political need or economic clout as out of virtue or service to the common good. The result is an imbalanced media landscape in which the public loses trust, journalistic independence is eroded, and standards are repeatedly breached to centralise power.
And if the fourth estate of democracy is the press, then the procedure of a licence is its secret gatekeeper. We must shed light into this darkest of corners and restore people’s faith by ensuring integrity, balance, and transparency right through.
This is not a change of a technical kind; it is a democratic and moral necessity. Without far-reaching reform, the license system will be a stranglehold upon freedom of expression—buying off allegiance rather than legitimacy, and power rather than principle.
Immediate steps for implementation: As the first step towards this root-and-branch change, the CAO must act with all speed on the following steps:
• Impose a countrywide moratorium. Issue a temporary and instant moratorium on new media licenses — print, online, radio, and broadcast — until there is a forensic audit of all permits issued.
• Establish an Independent Media Regulatory Authority (IMRA). A legally mandated, non-partisan regulator whose role is to review all existing licenses and those forthcoming. The IMRA must operate under publicly stated rules and prioritise journalistic integrity, fiscal prudence, editorial autonomy, and social responsibility.
• Revoke licenses tied to malfeasance. Swiftly rescind the licenses of media outlets found to be engaged in money laundering, tax evasion, or the deliberate spread of disinformation. Such action will send a powerful signal that accountability is non-negotiable.
By implementing these early reforms, the IG can effectively convey that access to the public airwaves and information space is public trust, not a private privilege. This will be the first and most tangible step to shift the moral compass of the Bangladeshi media.
Enhancing Fair Access and Content Pluralism: When a handful of owners get to decide what millions of people view, hear, and read, the media are no longer representative of the nation — it is a megaphone for the wealthy. This is not a business crisis but a civic crisis. A free press, in its fullest expression, must make room for other narratives, minority opinions, local voices, and alternative truths.
It is important that no one ideology, one class, or one region establishes a monopoly over the single narrative of the national story. Rebalancing the media is deliberate policy action—prioritising not censorship, but equity, transparency, and real diversity.
Enforce full transparency of ownership and financing. Mandate that all media houses make public, in detail, their ownership structure, shareholding, and all their sources of income — donations, ads, sponsorships, and political or corporate alliances. The report will be made available in the public domain both online and in print.
• Enact company anti-monopoly laws: Strengthen and enforce antitrust laws for the media to break up undue concentration of ownership in the media. Cap the number of licenses any one company may hold in platforms and establish penalties for malicious consolidation through the use of shell companies or proxy owners.
• Reward regional and culturally diverse content. Offer financial incentives, tax breaks, or competitive grants to the media outlets that actively promote minority languages, indigenous people, minorities, and rural narratives. Encourage the growth of local newsrooms, multilingual coverage, and community journalism as a counter to the Dhaka-focused media.
By reasserting pluralism, we return the public debate to its authenticity. Under such requirements, the IG can help build a media climate in which the many, not the privileged few, shape the national imagination. That is how we guarantee all citizens, regardless of geography or heritage, are heard through the tales we share.
Defence of Journalists and Media Employees: In Bangladesh, reporters are still vulnerable to state and non-state harassment, intimidation, and violence. They work in perpetual fear, with no institutional protection or legal recourse. Investigative reporters are sued, spied on, and defamed. Whistleblowers are gagged. Female reporters carry an added burden of sexual harassment and cyber-trolling. It makes the atmosphere chilling, not only for the media but for democracy at large.
Demagogues may assail them, but protections for media professionals are not a state privilege, but a democratic obligation. The government must treat the attack on media professionals as more than isolated incidents, but as an attack on constitutional freedoms.
Policy imperatives to be urgently addressed:
• Enact the journalists’ protection act. An act with all due haste to enact the long-overdue Journalists’ Protection Act, hitching legal protection for journalists to a bill. It should encompass protections for whistleblowers, source protection, and legal immunity for all who engage in public interest investigations and reporting.
• Recommend a fast-response mechanism of investigation.Create an independent and quick response legal cell in the Ministry of Information or the new Media Regulatory Authority to pursue and prosecute all intimidation, physical attack, arbitrary arrest, or threatening cases against journalists. The unit must be staffed with legal, forensic, and human rights experts and must be empowered to move between jurisdictions.
• Create a national journalists’ welfare and protection fund.Create a government-sponsored fund, managed by an unbiased board of journalists, lawyers, and human rights activists, to provide legal help, counselling for trauma, resettlement assistance, and financial support in emergencies to journalists and their family members in situations when they are exposed due to their profession.
These are not political measures, they are imperative. The future of the Bangladesh press is not simply a matter of media freedom, but also one of ensuring that those who practice it are not placed in danger. With good leadership, the IG can guarantee that no journalist is threatened simply for reporting the truth. By holding in check those with power, we protect the very lifeblood of the republic.
Digital Inclusion and Community Media Empowerment: The media landscape in Bangladesh remains highly centralised, with Dhaka-centricity dominating a disproportionate share of the space, while others at the periphery are relegated to the margins.
Community media—hyperlocal websites, community radio, and citizen narratives—is the public’s democratic link between rulers and ruled. It speaks back to them in their voices, reports hyperlocal issues, and fosters participatory dialogue where the national media cannot. But these indispensable outlets are systematically underfunded, technologically marginalized, and politically neglected.
Simultaneously, the digital divide closes out vast segments of Bangladesh’s population—particularly women, rural youth, indigenous communities, and poor people—to the possibility of benefiting from the new information economy. Empowerment is an illusion without access to computers.
Empowering the community media and bridging the digital divide is not benevolence; it is a foundational element of a democratic country that believes in the right of each citizen to be seen, heard, and educated.
Recommendations for Immediate Implementation:
• Renew and expand community radio. Provide institutional loans, frequency allocation, and technical facilities to new and existing community radio stations. Equip them with new broadcasting equipment and establish a legal framework that guarantees editorial independence from political meddling at local levels.
• National campaign for digital media literacy. Interweave primary and secondary school curriculum with media and digital literacy. Make rural regions of the nation community workshops where citizens, especially women and young people, are equipped with the skills to identify disinformation, utilize digital spaces for civic engagement, and familiarize themselves with rights in the information space.
• Create a condemned empowerment fund for marginalised voices. Establish a Women and Youth Media Empowerment Fund to finance locally produced content, mobile newsrooms, indigenous language reporting, and digital entrepreneurs from underrepresented groups. The fund would be open and competitive, with reserved space for projects based in historically excluded communities.
Rejuvenating State-Owned Media for Public Interest: In any democratic system, state media should be a public trust, not a tool of the state. It should serve and educate citizens, reflect the nation’s diversity, and provide a voice for those who have been too long voiceless. In Bangladesh, however, state media outlets like Bangladesh Television (BTV), Bangladesh Betar, and Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) have been commandeered by political interests for decades, serving as propaganda mouthpieces and shielded from public criticism.
As public broadcasting becomes partisan, it erodes public trust and widens the divide between the government and the people. Bangladesh today requires not more shrill state media, but improved, inclusive, and truly public media rooted in professionalism, autonomy, and accountability to citizens.
State media reform is not a coup; it is a democratic renaissance. Its offensive and visionary spirit can make these institutions tools of national unification, civic education, and plural narrative-making.
Short-term Steps for Implementation:
• Make state media public service broadcasters. Reorganise Bangladesh Betar, BTV, and BSS under a newly established, legally autonomous Public Broadcasting Trust. The trust should be run by an independent board whose members are chosen from media professionals, civil society members, academics, and jurists with strong safeguard provisions against political interference.
• Enact a National Public Broadcasting Charter. Establish and operationalise a binding Public Charter that defines the mission, values, editorial standards, and accountability measures of all public media. The charter should guarantee content neutrality, promote civic education, protect cultural pluralism, and afford open programming decision-making.
• Enforce co-production and civic partnerships. Make public broadcasting channels open for co-production with universities, NGOs, youth organizations, and local producers. The programming must prioritize health, education, climate change, women’s rights, indigenous people, and rural development — issues previously overlooked by commercial broadcasters. [Last part tomorrow]
Dr Serajul I Bhuiyan is professor and former chair of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communications at Savannah State University, Savannah, Georgia, USA. sibhuiyan@yahoo.com