Media a vulnerable fourth estate, society and state must protect it

FE Team | Published: October 30, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

The media is the vulnerable 'fourth estate' and the society and the state must protect their fullest freedom.
Adviser for Foreign Affairs Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury made the remark while speaking at the concluding session of a conference on 'Media Reporting Armed Conflict and Violence' at a city hotel Monday, reports UNB.
Senior Editors from SAARC Countries took part in the two-day conference.
"It is the venerable 'forth estate'. It is the voice of conscience for the society. Citizens count on a responsible media. This is not just for news, though also that. It is for views, guidance and assurances as well", the foreign adviser said.
The advisor said the task of reporting under conflict circumstances are inordinately difficult when all kinds of different demands are made on the media.
At all times, of course, Chowdhury said, the media must have the sense of responsibility as their primary guiding principle.
"For that society, and the State must ensure their fullest freedom. But again, as has been famously said, this freedom does not include the right to shout 'fire!' in a crowded 'theatre'", he told the conference.
Chowdhury said in the ancient times war correspondents reported conflicts from far-flung battlefields. Julius Caesar wrote at length on the Gaullic Wars and Thucydides chronicled the Peloponnesian battles.
Three factors contribute to the massive transformation that reporting on violent conflict has undergone today, he said.
"First, democracy. Governments today are under constant pressure to justify blood, tears, toil and sweat of war. The media is counted upon to defend or denounce a conflict."
The second factor is technological advances and competition. The advent of satellite communication and internet has fundamentally altered reporting, both in style and content. Vast amount of information must be sifted almost minute to minute, the advisor pointed out.
"The public want to know what happened now, not yesterday, not event earlier today !"
The third is the scale factor, Chowdhury said. Conflict today engulfed not just the uniformed fighters, but civilians, often innocent women and children, he added.