Autonomy for BTV
January 11, 2010 00:00:00
FOR state-owned Bangladesh Television, autonomy remains as elusive as ever. All the government used it for sheer publicity. Despite promises, no government ever gave it autonomy.
All the political parties promise before each general election that BTV would be given autonomy only to forget it after going to power. The public is tired of hearing from the government of the day that it does not control BTV.
Lacking autonomy, BTV is unable to compete with 10 private-run channels. Lacking credibility, BTV is struggling for survival. No viewer likes to see BTV news.
BTV became unpopular for its partial presentation of news. Projecting only the 'good deeds' of the government serves no public purpose if the BTV wants the viewers to live in a make-believe world.
The AL election manifesto pledged autonomy to BTV. But, we see no progress here.
If the government is so confident about its success stories, why should it want to control BTV. The government should immediately allow autonomy to BTV.
M. M. A. Rahman
Uttara
Dhaka