Speakers at a roundtable on the National Broadcast Policy have demanded one set of guidelines and rules for all types of media in Bangladesh, reports bdnews24.com.
Separate policies would cause conflicts among them, said a participant at the discussion on National Broadcast Policy 2014: Concerns and Recommendations organised by the 'Article 19' on Sunday.
Information technology expert Mustafa Jabbar asked why separate regulations were needed for different types of media.
"It is 2014 and we are talking about a broadcast policy but technology has brought us to a different place. Are we talking about a policy for what we singularly understand as media?
"Why do we need separate policies? Does that mean I can curse someone in the newspaper but not online?" wondered Jabbar. "This is why a singular National Broadcast Policy should be framed and the rest of the work should follow in that line."
There was a wage board for newspapers but why not for television journalists, he asked. "Those who will work for online media in the future, will anyone be there for them?
"There is a Press and Publications Act for newspapers, so why are we still looking for broadcast laws for TV?"
"I believe there should be a common platform for the overall media," Mr Jabbar continued. "So there should be media commission instead of a broadcast commission. If that happens, we can go to it for matters regarding newspapers and TV."
"We are discussing one policy. The draft for online media was still at the ministry."
Jabbar was part of both the committees set up to create draft policies for broadcast and online media. "When I was told that the committee would frame a draft policy for online media I thought my work would be easy.
"Why? …Because I can take half of its content from the broadcast policy."
"I therefore must think about broadcast when I think about online policy. Ninety-five per cent of that applies to online. I didn't find too many differences except technological ones."
