Address journalists' concerns by publishing draft Press Council Act: TIB

The Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) has urged the Press Council to release the draft of the Press Council Act ammendment in order to address the concerns of journalists, stakeholders.

The anti-corruption watchdog has demanded publication of the draft law to ensure whether their (stakeholders) views have been reflected or not.

According to the statement of the Press Council, the agency believes that there has been a disruption in the process of ensuring transparency in the lawmaking as there is no opportunity to evaluate whether the views of the participants have been reflected in the final draft approved in principle by the Cabinet Division.

Referring to the statement of the Bangladesh Press Council sent to the media and TIB on 23 August, TIB Executive Director Dr Iftekharuzzaman said, "Bangladesh Press Council has issued a statement stating the time and progress of the amendment of the Press Council Act as a response to a press release of TIB. Besides, we want to consider the effort of the press council as an expression of the goodwill of the institution as there have been discussions with various stakeholders including prominent journalists of the country before drafting the draft of the press council."

However, referring to the finalisation of the draft on 9 January 2020, based on the discussion with the stakeholders, Dr Zaman said, "Though the final draft of the Press Council Act was prepared in 2020 based on discussions with the stakeholders, the draft has not been given to the stakeholders or made public by the Press Council for more than two and a half years. As a result, no opportunity was given to confirm whether the views, expectations or concerns of the stakeholders were properly reflected in the draft approved in principle by the Cabinet on 20 June this year."

This clearly hampered the process of ensuring transparency in the Press Council amended law. 

"We hope that the Bangladesh Press Council will take the initiative to release the final draft of the amended law to the stakeholders and public interest immediately before it is tabled in the National Assembly," he further said, adding that he expects proper initiative of the Press Council to ensure that the opinions and recommendations of all stakeholders including journalists and newspapers are properly considered in the final draft.