Media should focus on rights of ethnic communities

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RANGAMATI, Sept 20: Media should focus on the rights of indigenous people rather than portraying just their livelihood and cultural activities, said a press release.
This was observed by the participants of a roundtable styled "Bridging Gap between Media and Ethnic Communities" held in Rangamati today.
Management and Resources Development Initiative (MRDI) organised the roundtable with support from the Delegation of the European Commission to Bangladesh under the project "Bridging Media and Ethnicity".
Prakash Kanti Chowdhury, UNO of Rangamati Sadar attended the roundtable as the chief guest. He said journalists have to approach to the right persons at the government and non-government levels for the right information. They have to identify those persons. Addressing the media gate keepers, he further said reporters of specific geographical areas need special facilities for physical movement. They should realise this fact. He requested MRDI to lobby on this issue.
Keynote paper was presented in the roundtable by journalist Qurratul-Ain-Tahmina.
Ms. Tahmina in her keynote paper said journalists have to remain objective in reporting the ethnic issues and play proactive role in bridging the gap between media and ethnic communities for the betterment of the hill people.
The discussants stressed the need for portraying the indigenous people in the media in a proper way and promoting their human rights through objective reports.
In his speech Mr. Hasibur Rahman, Executive Director of MRDI, stressed better understanding of human rights of the ethnic communities through a shared upbringing so that the media can cover appropriate and accurate news in time.