Challenges in economic

journalism increasing :

Ziaur Rahman, the editor and founder of the popular online newspaper Arthosuchak, shared his views about economic journalism from his in-depth experience of more than two-decade long journalistic career.
In response to a question regarding the importance of economic journalism, Ziaur Rahman said that economic journalists play a vital role in the economic development of a country how they can work in increasing transparency and accountability in economic activities.
As time goes by, people are understanding more and more about the importance of the economy. Major changes are coming in economic products and services. Corporate institutions are getting bigger. Due to these reasons, the potential of economic journalism is also increasing day by day.
However, Ziaur Rahamn who worked in various positions in the country’s leading newspapers, mentioned that along with the potential of economic reporting, challenges are also increasing in this profession.
In this regard, he said that in Bangladesh, big corporate institutions are getting involved in media ownership. This is increasing conflict of interest. On the other hand, big corporate institutions are trying to control the media through advertisements, sponsorships, etc., which is a threat to independent and impartial economic journalism.
Besides, new ideas and technologies are being introduced in business and commerce. It is very important to stay updated about these and acquire the necessary knowledge. The development of artificial intelligence is also becoming a big challenge for financial journalists.
In addition to his journalistic career, he has also developed his own organization Arthosuchak, much like a training institute. As a mentor, he guides the young journalists who joined this organization as apprentices in various ways to become professional journalists. Nearly fifty young journalists trained from this organization are now working successfully in leading media outlets.
Ziaur Rahman also highlighted the importance of different forums for economic reporters including Capital Market Journalists’ Forum (CMJF), a platform for capital market journalists, and the Economic Reporters’ Forum (ERF), a prestigious organization of Economic journalists.
He said that these platforms can assist the fresh and experienced reporters to shared ideas and exchange knowledge for developing their careers.
Regarding the importance of these organizations, he said, capital market journalism and financial journalism are very technical. A large part of those who are coming to this profession here do not have a journalism or economics or finance background. Therefore, various training, seminars, workshops are very important to enhance their skills.
“But we believed that there is no alternative to a strong capital market for the economic development of the country. So this market will be very big at some point. Then each media outlet will need a separate reporter to cover the capital market news,” he said.
About the importance of economic journalists he said, “Economic journalists can contribute to ensure transparency and accountability which will ultimately enhance good governance in our country.”