Journalism’s real battle is truth
Information and Broadcasting Minister Zahir Uddin Swapon has said the defining challenge for journalism today is the battle between misinformation and accurate reporting, urging media professionals to uphold truth and objective journalism as the foundation of sustainable democracy.
He made the remarks on Friday while delivering the keynote address at a seminar titled “Role of Media in Sustainable Democracy”, organised by the Television Editors’ Council at a city hotel.
Swapon said safeguarding credible information has become journalism’s primary ethical responsibility amid the rapid spread of misinformation.
“Protecting clean information is now the fundamental ethics of journalism. Combating dishonest journalism is also the responsibility of honest journalism,” he said.
“Therefore, the main challenge today is not simply the government versus journalists or media owners versus journalists. Rather, it is the battle between misinformation and accurate information, falsehood and truth, and dishonest journalism and objective journalism,” he added.
The minister said a sustainable democratic system and a free, responsible media depend on one another.
“Just as sustainable democracy requires an independent media, the development of an independent media also requires a democratic environment,” he said.
Rejecting allegations of official pressure on the media, Swapon said there is currently no interference by the government or any intelligence agency in media activities.
Referring to the relationship between democratic governance and media freedom, he said neither could flourish in isolation.
“These two issues complement one another and should move forward in parallel,” he said.
Swapon also described the media as an industry that must remain financially sustainable to survive.
“A media organisation must have financial capacity and ensure profitability to sustain itself. At the same time, accountability, compliance with the law and social responsibility are equally important,” he said.
He identified the government, media owners and advertisers as the three principal stakeholders in the country’s media ecosystem.
“The government is accountable for serving the people, media owners are responsible for ensuring institutional sustainability, and advertisers strengthen the industry’s economic foundation.
A healthy media system can only be built if there is balance among these three stakeholders,” he said.
Highlighting the impact of digital transformation, Swapon said journalism is increasingly being shaped by digital platforms, global technology companies and artificial intelligence (AI).
He stressed that building both a sustainable democracy and a resilient media sector requires a comprehensive understanding of the changing media landscape.
“It is not possible to reach effective solutions through a partial understanding of these issues,” he said.
The seminar was attended by Local Government, Rural Development and Co-operatives Minister Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir as the chief guest.
It focused on the evolving role of the media in strengthening democratic governance amid technological change and the growing challenge of misinformation.
