Newspaper owners as editors

The Prime Minister made a statement last month that it is not good for journalism when owners of newspapers become editors of their publications while inaugurating the 31-storey Bangabandhu Media Complex at the National Press Club. In April this year, the Information Minister had said in Parliament that 93% of newspapers in Bangladesh have as editors, their owners!
The Prime Minister's statement and the Information Minister's submission in parliament underlining the extent of this phenomenon in journalism in Bangladesh is undoubtedly correct if we examine it in some depth. In fact, it is a matter of great surprise that until the Prime Minister spoke, no one mentioned the subject before the way she did. The job of an editor of a newspaper is an extremely important and serious one. In Bangladesh, though, the role of the editor has a different meaning that may not be applicable in many other countries.
Newspaper editors in Bangladesh are self-acclaimed elites, unlike other countries where their ability alone and nothing else make them elites or otherwise. In Bangladesh, the moment an individual becomes an editor, no questions are asked about his or her ability to take upon the onerous tasks and responsibilities an editor plays worldwide because it does not matter whether one proves oneself worthy to be the editor or not, he or she becomes the editor of his newspaper anyway.
There is, of course no logic in any claim that one cannot be the editor of the newspaper he owns. Nevertheless, the figure that the Information Minister gave in parliament, that 93% of our newspaper owners are also the editors of their newspapers is, to say the least ,something very unusual. In fact, it could be information that could get our country a place in the record books.
There is, of course, a wide array of other reasons that lends credibility to the Prime Minister's statement. Becoming the editor of a newspaper is a job that requires a very high degree of professionalism, one that editors around the world acquire in the most grueling ways; rising through the ranks with sheer hard work and dedication. There are of course instances in other countries where individuals who have become editors and have excelled in their jobs have not risen through the ranks. In Bangladesh, too, individuals have excelled as excellent editors who have not risen through the ranks of a journalist and the names of Mr Tafazzal Hossain Manik Miah and Mr. Abdus Salam come to mind readily. But these cases are the exceptions. The rule suggests that the role of the owners of the newspapers and that of editors run parallel and it is not normal to have the two roles entrusted in one person.
Another strong reason why it is not a good idea for the paper's owner also to be his or her paper's editor is because it compromises objectivity. A newspaper is a watchdog of the interests of the public. It is thus called and rightly so as the Fourth Estate or the fourth branch of the government that is critical for a democracy to function. If a newspaper's editor were also the owner, he or she would constantly face a conflict of interests whether to pursue the paper's business objectives or those of the public as its watchdog. The editor as the owner of the paper would also be unable to give leadership to the journalists in his or her paper because of this divided loyalty.
How editorship and ownership in one individual work out are nevertheless very difficult to determine and evaluate because there are little to no instances to compare from other countries. In the case of Bangladesh, the newspaper industry itself is exceptional apart from the fact that in so many instances the editor and the owner are the same person. There are so many newspapers in Dhaka city alone that the Bangladesh capital should easily rank as the city with the most daily newspapers. Logically circulation of a newspaper is the main reason that keeps it in business. In Bangladesh, most of the newspapers have such low circulation that it raises suspicion why most of the newspapers are still in circulation.
A comparison with another capital city should underline the lack of rationality in the fact that Dhaka has such a large number of daily newspapers. Greater Washington that includes Washington DC and part of Maryland and Virginia with a population of over 6.0 million has only one newspaper, The Washington Post. Therefore for the sake of rationality, one would need to inquire why Dhaka has this large and inexplicable number of daily newspapers and how most of them survive with their ridiculously low level of circulation and why.
One explanation that has been given in the past but never verified for truthfulness has been that these newspapers were given newsprint from the government at reduced price and that they were selling a good part of their quota in the open market and making profit. That is no longer the case. The newspapers also get a good amount of money from government advertisements that allow many of these newspapers meet their operating costs. But these are not good reasons to explain why so many newspapers are in circulation in Bangladesh.
Nevertheless, these issues raise questions in the minds of the public about newspapers in Bangladesh. For instance, why are there so many newspapers in the country? All analyses lead to one direction which is the fact that becoming an editor in Bangladesh is something awesome and brings a great deal of recognition, social prestige and even power that individuals who pursue other professions and who also reach the top of the social and political ladder have to spend a lifetime to achieve. In case of the owner editors, all they have to do is to get government's permission (which is often dispensed on political grounds), invest some money and make themselves the editors and in no time reach the top of the social/political ladder!
Some of the editors do something exceptional to add power to their social/political prestige. All over the world, an editor's only ammunition to prove his or worth is the editorial, which is not an op-ed but one that is restricted to a minimum, normally half to a third of normal op-eds. Most editors in Bangladesh have forgotten about this powerful medium and instead write what is unusual for newspapers outside Bangladesh.
Some of them who consider themselves powerful, write what they call the commentary. In this commentary, they often hold court in many instances where they audaciously put even the Prime Minister on the dock forgetting, the fact, that the Prime Minister, her shortcomings notwithstanding, is the elected leader and they have no business writing the commentary to raise themselves over the Prime Minister and put her on the dock as the judge, jury and prosecution.
The commentaries with which some of the editors had tried to become powerful have now been rendered innocuous by the Prime Minister's no-nonsense attitude. In fact, both the Awami League (AL) and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) agree (one of the rare instances where they agree on anything) that with their political commentaries some of the powerful editors have been responsible for the disastrous emergency in the country in 2007-2008. The editors now no longer write the overtly critical political commentaries also as a measure of self-censorship.
The newspaper industry would do itself and the country a great deal of good if the owners gave up being the editors and let the professionals take over their newspapers as the editors, listening to the Prime Minister's wise advice. For a change, newspaper editors should try to emulate Mr. Manik Mian and Mr. Abdus Salam and bring back to the country's journalism, the art of editorial writing that has fallen by the wayside for a variety of reasons, one of which is the fact that government no longer allows editorials politically critical of the government. Notwithstanding this, most editors in Bangladesh today no longer have the ability or the courage of Mr Manik Mian or Mr Abdus Salam.
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The writer is a retired career ambassador. [email protected]