Ensuring media freedom is our duty
Zahir Uddin Swapan, Minister of Information and Broadcasting, said that modern civilization cannot function without a free media.
“The role of the media is to reflect the activities of the state and society like a mirror. Ensuring media freedom is our inescapable responsibility,” he added.
He noted that over the years, those in power have repeatedly tried to use the media as a controlled tool. “Our government, fulfilling our election promises, is working to ensure full freedom of the media,” the minister said.
The minister made these remarks on Friday around 11:30 AM at the Karatoya Convention Centre in Bogra city, during an event organised by the Bangladesh Journalists Welfare Trust to distribute financial grants to journalists and scholarship checks to meritorious students.
The government is less than a month old, yet the Prime Minister has already initiated several welfare programs, including family card distribution, farmer card programs, and agricultural loan waivers.
Members of parliament will not take cars or plots, demonstrating transparency and accountability from the start of the government.
To make the media free and responsible, it must be modernised and reorganised. Initiatives for journalists are not charity, but efforts to strengthen the media.
“If there were a culture of accountability in the state, the fascist Awami League government would not have reached this situation. We aim to establish a culture of accountability,” he added.
The minister assured that the rights previously denied to the people of Bogra will be restored, and he has taken responsibility for the full construction of the Bogra Press Club.
Atikur Rahman Rumon, Additional Press Secretary to the Prime Minister, said, “The funds being distributed are not charity, but what journalists deserve. Over the past 17 years, journalists fought against dictatorship with their pens and emerged victorious. We want journalists to live with dignity.”
He also called for Bogra to be declared a city corporation.
Other speakers included Bogra Deputy Commissioner Toufiqul Rahman, Bogra BNP President Rezaul Karim Badsha, members of Bangladesh Journalists Welfare Trust such as Kalam Azad, Daily Karatoa editor Mozammel Haque Lalu, Bogra police media spokesperson Additional SP Atowar Rahman, Bogra Press Club President Rezaul Hasan Ranu, and President of Bogra Journalists’ Union Ganesh Das.
During the event, 51 journalists from seven districts of the Rajshahi Division (except Sirajganj) received financial grants, and 46 meritorious students were awarded scholarship checks. The event was hosted by SM Abu Saeed, General Secretary of the Bogra Journalists’ Union.
