Woke up last week by a phone call –
Have you heard that Joy is involved in corruption as well?
No, where did you hear it?
It has come out in the paper.
Really? Which paper?
Not sure. But it was in the paper.
This was the conversation that I had at some point with my mother.
After digging around and finding that it came out in Amar Desh — the mouth piece of BNP, the opposition party, my reaction was that it was another hachet job by its editor Mahmudur Rahman who is not really known for his ethical behavior when he was part of the government. So I look up the news still. It turned out that the entire report was based on incident triggered by an anonymous letter. The letter showed no reference on how it came to know about the irregularity, neither it shows the deal’s connection with Sajib. Whoever sent the letter, also sent a copy to Amar Desh, it seems and the subsequent reply from energy ministry about an investigation on this which itself is remarkable was mentioned on Amardesh. The partisan news paper took full advantage of it and created a BIG front page news headline.
On first impression, this is healthy democratic practice. Vigilant media, transparency in the ministry and information going out to public and a healthy check and balance. But on second look there is something wrong with the picture. The newspaper’s own editorial policy is compromised by its editor’s personal party bias. So there is no check and balance on what this paper is reporting and there is little reason to believe the spin that its doing. Secondly, ever since the report came out, followed by a ridiculous Awami League strong arm reaction and an alleged attack on the journalist who wrote the story, every single day it is printing 3/4 pictures of the editor with garland from various workers and leaders of BNP. So no doubt he is using this incident to make his presence stronger in the party.
Thirdly, in a country where mild allegation is enough to thoroughly discredit and defame an individual, where is the balance on misuse of this power of individual editors. Specially when the press is completely dominated by such biased editors, what is the industry standard in publishing news? Who will check the personal interest of the owners and editors? Was an anonymous letter enough to put a front page picture and a big headline such as this when the report contained no actual interview or real sources? Is the same thing not being done on the other side? Surely. May be not so overtly. But what is going on in the name of investigative journalism is not investigative journalism and is not maintaining any standard.
Although, Amader Shomoy itself created a niche on making news report on hearsays, it has published an opinion piece by a Minar Mahmud, former editor of Bichinta and who went to jail for writing against Gen Ershad.
Although I won’t go as far as curbing the media freedom like Minar Mahmud is asking. However, there has to be a way in between complainant filing for a law suit that gets stuck for years in court and editors being dragged in jail and courts for their pieces.
How about a more empowered and independent Press Institute of Bangladesh on the style of OfCom in the UK?
Update:
OfCom in the UK is answerable to the parliament. Can you keep Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir in check if such organization is set up here ? If it’s empowered by Parliament it won’t be independent. We have already tasted it with Upazila fiasco !
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Mahmudur Rahman knows how to start a fight out of the blue just to get media attention.
Who can forget his astonishing mamlabaji that he picked up out of no where!! I am not sure what Manzur Elahi says about Free Speech now. After all, he had to go to the court for trying to protect Mahmudur Rahman’s free-speech. It seems even Mahmudur Rahman still cherish that memory.
(I was present in that 2006 CPD press briefing. One journalist asked a commentator about Mahmudur Rahman’s defamatory comments. While answering, Manzur Elahi was supporting Mahmudur Rahman right for free-speech and added that “people can say anything… but it doesn’t matter all the time… for instance, if you say that “you (Manzur Elahi) are Razakar”, I won’t be a Razakar for that! Later on, Mahmudur Rahman filed a case and made five eminent citizen to appear in the court for “calling HIM a Razakar”!! I think the video/audio of the event is still there to prove that nothing was said against him…. but that doesn’t matter. He just wanted some media attention, and he got that).
If allegation against Joy is proved to be wrong, who cares? It was never about Joy, it was about publicity and he got that!
If in democracy one’s freedom is conditioned by the fact that s/he can’t harm another person’s freedom, then similar rationale should also be applied for media.
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kgazi Reply:
December 26th, 2009 at 10:56 pm
“If allegation against Joy is proved to be wrong, who cares?”
—-
And if allegation against Joy proves to be RIGHT, who cares?
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I guess most of you, in the name of free speach, democracy, free press than again objectivity or responsibility etc. expressing the same feelings of Matia Chowdhury – ga to jolbai.
Ar ei ga jolata mainly Joy ke involve korar jonno noi ki?
Like any other desciple of AL, UV’s most contributors echoed the same sentiment but more polished than Matia or Nanok’s.
From day one of Mahmudur Rahman career in the govt. I have noticed PA and DS were dead against him which I did not understand.
Uro chiti or uro khabor niai to BD media, almost everyday in PA you will find some ‘jongi’ elements somewhere in the country.
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Syeed Reply:
December 26th, 2009 at 10:52 pm
I thought Mahmudur Rahman has been dead against PA-DS from the beginning of his public service career for not giving him enough space in the news.
He even made an illustrated powerpoint presentation in a seminar on “investment” in Sheraton Hotel only to compare how his comments are reported in one column in PA while some other people’s comments are published in three columns!! (I mean, literally showing scanned copies of PA).
manush tar shopner shoman boro… and he has fulfilled his dream. A newspaper now prints his picture everyday
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So we see an entire post here on the analysis of Mahmudur Rahman (the reporter ) and his biodata, we see a lot of finger-pointing at HIS “unethical journalism”, his arrogance and “anti awami” reports.
But have we analysed the potential of corruptability of our MP/ministers? Is that MP and Joy truly incorruptible, are our systems transparent, was that US trip really documented? There are a lot of questions un-answered. We may not have the answers today, but before those answers are cleared, can we really attack Mahmudur Rahman first??
One of the MOST important requirement of anti-corruption is that we must protect and encourage Whistle-blowers, those who bring out INSIDER and internal corruption stories into public. Because without whistle-blowers corruption gets covered-up and never exposed. In this story the whistle-blowers are the ‘anonymous letter’ writer and the news report.
In BD, we attack the whistle blowers first, and that is why people are SCARED to expose corruption stories, and maybe thats why the letter was ‘anonymous’ in the first place. We must give more POWER & SUPPORT to people like Mahmudur Rahman (and the letter writer) who had the courage to report such news, and to other newspapers so that they do REAL investigative journalism, which is missing BECAUSE of the political attacks against them.
Journalists in BD are known to be the most ENDANGERED journalists in the world, and to achieve real democracy, that needs to change as well.
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Syeed Reply:
December 27th, 2009 at 4:57 am
I think there are three identical problems here-
First, absence of right wing media watch. Political investigative journalism in developed democracies are usually divided into left-right wings. Unless we get a strong BNP media, it will be hard to keep AL under watch. Unfortunately, BNP’s path to right-wing media establishment took an “ultoroth” which fell from Shafique Rehman to Falu to Mahmudur Rahman (in a different post, tacit also agreed that Shafique Rahman is far more an intellectual than Mahmudur Rahman which confirms this downturn).
If you know the story of this shift, i.e. how Shafique Rehman was betrayed by Falu, and Falu had to surrender AD to Mahmudur Rahman, you will know the unfortunate and pathetic road of right-wing media.
Second, supporter dilemma: BNP will always have a strong supporter base which is necessary for democracy. The problem is, until BNP gets a strong media outlet, most of these supporters will have no other choice but to stand by and support this worsening media wing. It’s their politics of survival. Since PA is not owned or sponsored by AL, people at the left of center can comfortably criticize PA for being opportunist. But since AD is BNP sponsored media, anything against AD is seen as against their own belief! Unfortunately, nothing great comes this way!
Third, absence of devil’s advocate: Every month PA brings out numerous corruption charges against AL leaders, and many of them are addressed by the party. It’s because, PA is not sponsored by AL. BNP on the other hand always had to provide government and party sponsorship to establish its media outlet. How many investigative journalism one can expect from AD against BNP?
AL shifted from its dependence on partisan Banglar Bani, and BNP shifted from its dependence on once famous Jaijaidin! It says a lot about what is happening there in the two camps.
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jyoti Reply:
December 27th, 2009 at 7:26 am
Bhai Kgazi, it’s twice in the same week that we’re in agreement.
Okay, seriously, let’s dissect this methodically. Asif says, there are three problems.
1. “there is no check and balance on what this paper is reporting and there is little reason to believe the spin that its doing.”
But this is true for any newspaper, tv station, and blog in Bangladesh. Why single out Amar Desh?
2. “he is using this incident to make his presence stronger in the party.”
And why wouldn’t he? As Tacit says, what should we focus on: the blatant overreaction of the most powerful government in the country’s history, or a crude partisan’s attempt to cash in on such reactions?
3. “…what is going on in the name of investigative journalism is not investigative journalism and is not maintaining any standard.”
Clearly this is, or ought to be, the crux of the post. Unfortunately, coming towards the end, this important point is relatively buried. Let me be perfectly blunt: the difference between Mahmudur and Matiur Rahman is that one is crude and the other is shrewd. And underlying this is the pathetic degeneration of jatiyatabadi politics that Syeed describes.
—-
So what is the solution? Asif says “a more empowered and independent Press Institute of Bangladesh on the style of OfCom in the UK?”
I don’t think another bureaucratic institution is the answer. At best it will be captured by the very owners with questionable ethics. At worst, we will see blatant censorship.
To illustrate the point, let me paint a hypothetical. Imagine a different prime minister’s son’s corruptions are written about. The head of Press Institute — supposedly independent, but under this hypothetical government of doliokoron, corruption, abuse of power, independence is non-existent — in his/her attempt to show their commitment to the prime minister finds a loophole in the newspaper’s books, and it is shut down. This hypothetical shouldn’t sound far fetched, should it?
Today an independent press institute might censure Mahmudur Rahman, but tomorrow it will be the same institute that could shut down Asif Saleh.
So, that’s not the solution. What then? I guess like much else, we have to be patient and let things evolve over time. There is a market for genuine investigative journalism in Bangladesh. Give it some time, and things will get better.
And in the meantime, Mr Wajed or anyone else being defamed has to rely on the court. If the trade off is between powerful people’s time and money vs free speech, it shouldn’t take a second for any human rights watcher to make the choice.
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Asif Reply:
December 27th, 2009 at 8:52 am
I am not saying the solution is that. But an independent body to address complaints would certainly be a start. How it enforces punishment may be a different issue. However, there needs to be a space outside court where these issues can be raised based on certain standards of journalism. Did the reporter try to get both sides of the story? Was the protest letter published in due space? Was there corroboration of the use? Was is just based on confessions coming out of remand? There simply is no standard. I agree that more central authority can bring in more danger than good but at least these issues need to be talked about in the media circle seriously. An honest appraisal and self regulation would have been best. But I think we have all seen by now how dangerous a reckless media can be for the country. What are the chances that self regulation will happen?
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Interesting ex-change in role with turn of rule. Very funny
.
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Things are getting complicated like, ‘I will make politics difficult for the politicians’ or sentence of that nature. Are we the citizens of one country? Oh Almighty, give us ’shumoti’ to remain united. Let us take things easy, if there is any intention of personal or party gains behind the news, get it uncovered through proper way, not by battons, guns or by muscles. ALO
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rumi, ALO, folks
pls make your comments directly, what/whom are you referring to?
otherwise I need to take lessons in mind-reading
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While the basis of the complaint is indeed a letter under a false name, I think it is pertinent to remember that this letter was not rejected out-of-hand by either the Energy Ministry or Petrobangla when they received it first. That there was some controversy about this project was also documented by Amar Desh.
The title of this post mentions defamation. The definition of defamation varies from country to country. In the US, for example, when a public personality is concerned, not only does the potential defamation have to be blatantly false, the people who are publishing the report also have to be sure that the report is false. I’d say the Amar Desh report clears the bar set for defamation rather comfortably.
Is Mahmudur Rahman milking this opportunity for all it’s worth? Certainly. Which part should we focus on, AL’ reaction to the report, or Amar Desh’s reaction to AL’s reaction?
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Asif Reply:
December 27th, 2009 at 7:28 am
There are many angles that we can discuss. I just focused on one angle. AL reaction on the article angle has been covered well by your post from a few days ago.
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Syeed Reply:
December 27th, 2009 at 7:32 am
Well, we have been discussing AL’s reaction in previous posts (and we can surely continue on that).
I disagree with Asif that ofCom will lessen the incidence of Uro Chithi. I guess more important discussion should be on right-wing media. Until there is a strong and independent (of BNP) right wing media in BD, we will have to discuss (and others will have to defend) AD as a right-wing newspaper, which is really unfortunate!
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tacit Reply:
December 27th, 2009 at 8:30 am
Until that happy development, why worry about whatever labels AD sticks on itself? Whether one is a BNP supporter or not, bad reporting is bad reporting.
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kgazi Reply:
December 27th, 2009 at 8:05 am
The only angle and reaction that needs to be focused on, as far as I am concerned, for the sake of democratic transparency, is – whether Joy is guilty or innocent. Being the son of PM, nepotism and kickbacks are all too common in BD ‘ruling’ dynasties to **assume** that Joy is totally innocent. ALL investigations should primarily center on the PM/Joy subject events and meetings, and if THOSE conclude to be baseless, then and only then should the news reporter be analysed.
All other “reactions” are political, sensational and emotional, and are irrelevant to democratic integrity.
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Syeed Reply:
December 27th, 2009 at 8:45 am
kgazi,
The question is, who will ring the bell?
I agree that allegations should be investigated. But will everyone trust the AL government on a fair investigation? Did anyone trust BNP on TR?
In developed democracies, high profile political corruptions (from Watergate to Monicagate) were investigated by journalists. The incumbent political parties and the whole government machineries tried as far as they could to deny any involvement until the journalists (not police or FBI) came up with undeniable evidence.
And that’s why you need credible media. Otherwise, everything will be “political, sensational and emotional, and are irrelevant to democratic integrity”.
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kgazi Reply:
December 27th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
The report needs to be investigated, not by AL or its govt, but by an independant body. No govt, whether AL or whoever, will ever do a fair investigation, which is why it has to be done by a third party.
Clinton’s Monicagate was NOT investigated by journalists, it was investigated by United States Office of the Independent Counsel, now under Dept of Justice. So BD also needs such a body, NOT just to investigate Joy, but also for future allegations against ANY party.
However, we again return to square ONE. Who will create the Indepndnt Body ?
The answer to that question MUST be — the ACC and the Supreme Court, both of which have been weakened by AL, very recently. (Did AL know this story was coming up soon?). ACC and SC needs to get their act together and create an Independant Investigation Council to probe into this type of allegations – and that will keep govt officials alert.
Because AL will try to convert it to another lame duck, like they have to ACC or judiciary, the body will also need to be protected by law, by a legal bill, that govt cannot harrass or disturb them, and they will have totally independant authority.
Until such a body is created, and whistleblowers are also PROTECTED BY LAW, the media will neither be “credible” nor able to make investigative journalism, against autocratic party politics.
Syeed Reply:
December 27th, 2009 at 7:30 pm
Monicagate rather tells us why we need investigative journalism, and warns us about independent counsel.
The American Spectator magazine’s David Brock actually began the investigation on Clinton’s extramarital affairs (under the Arkansas Project) and came up with the Troopergate scandal, which led to Paula Jones case that initiated the Monicagate (because of Monica’s affidavit in this case).
Meanwhile the independent counsel was only investigating the Whitewater controversy, a controversy which was being actively followed by the New York Times.
But when Keneth Starr was failing to establish his case against the Clintons, he wanted to bring Clinton under oath on Monica issue in a hope that Clinton might lie and then Starr will use that to prove that Clinton also lied in White Water case (Starr did not find the Monica case, Linda Trip just gave it to him)
Starr has not only been criticized for diluting the original case, his political motive was also apparent when he hold back the publication of his investment report on Travelgate and Filegate matters (where the Clintons were proved to be innocent) until after the national election. After spending huge amount of money and time, he came up with nothing on the original case!
At the end, USA had to terminate the Office of the Independent Counsel in 1999 (and was replaced by a less powerful Special Counsel).
Before wising for such body, I would echo with Jyoti “who will watch the watchmen”?
kgazi Reply:
December 28th, 2009 at 12:02 am
Currently BD has NO investigative apparatus, and SOMETHING needs to be created, before we start kicking the Mahmudur rahmans for reporting corruption.
Whether its controlled journalism, independent counsel, SC body, 3rd party, ethics council, journalist council, whatever – a council is needed, so that the JOY’s & TZ’s of this world donot get away with runaway corruption. Right now BD has nothing – neither journalism nor governance has ANY checks & balance.
Who will watch the watchmen?? Like any working system, each body will watch each other, courts, parliament, politicians, lawmakers, judges, MPs, journalist will watch & check each other & balance the system !!
But the real question is WHO WILL CREATE SUCH A SYSTEM??
Joy? Hasina? SC ? ACC ? Ha ha ha
Its just a possibly cruder form of the biases you ingest when reading other papers. Its less insidious because the daily starites white appeal and symbolic power lend its myths, interests and blindness a higher stamp of approval.
The pm’s son, who has many people to protect him, with sticks and oars and laws, will probably be able to project his voice quite clearly.
I wonder what the response of the donor tutored and funded, inbred and westoxic power group would be to a tehelka type expose of their falsehoods.
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American Investigative Journalism has lots of money in it !! Monica, Paula Jones, Genifer Flowers all made decent money out of the scandal ! If you pay the right money our journos too can produce magics !!!
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So now, all of a sudden, we have too much press freedom, Asif bhai?!
There’s nothing new to our time and place about the problem you highlight. Partisan newspapers, editors, journalists are nothing new – in well-functioning democracies and in nascent democracies. (Anyone who idealizes how mature democracies emerge should see how nasty early American politics was.)
There’s something problematic about reflexively thinking about yet another bureaucratic layer that is somehow supposed to be independent as a solution to our problems. What basis do we have for thinking that such independence is even possible in our context?
Now there is an easy solution for public figures like our politicians to avoid being defamed by partisan journalists and editors: MAKE YOUR PROCESSES TRANSPARENT! Not just lawful – transparent.
In the absence of black boxes, talk about brown paper bags will have little traction, and newspapers (which are, at the end of the day, businesses) will have few buyers for such sensationalized reports.
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I was in a spellbound state last 24 hours. Now I am gaining back some energy to speak up.
First, I couldn’t believe Asif wrote this blogpost
. ( Being a DP comrade of Asif for over ten years, bracing many storms together and as a friend, I guess I earned the right to say this in public).
Second, although Syeed looks more interested in talking about weakness in center right press, I think center right press is way off topic here. What is the main issue here? I feel it is a corruption allegation and a newspaper’s attempts to connect Prime Minister’s son to the alleged corruption.
It is indeed about the time to be vigilant against political agenda driven character assassination attempts by different sectors of the press. We have seen this in it’s worst form over the last five years. I have protested at my own capacity before and if any outlet start doing the same, I must protest. Otherwise I’ll be a hypocrite.
However while discussing all these, we probably are misisng the forest for the tree. There has been specific allegation of corruption. What about that?
$52 million contract has been awarded without adequate transparency. The person most empowered to influence the decision on awarding the contract has already made several false statements when the press asked him about it. His most glaring false statement is that he repeatedly stated that the award was given as there was no bid after three tenders. This is entirely false. Among two shortlisted bidder, ABB and Hyndai, Hyundai was initially selected but later the tender was cancelled unilaterally by BD government. As watchdogs and concerned citizens- bloggers we must ask the government to explain the discrepencies sorrounding the $52 million deal…
Detail analysis of the corruption allegation is in the following link…
http://rumiahmed.wordpress.com/2009/12/27/chevron-gate-of-bangladesh-when-the-real-message-gets-clouded/
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Asif Reply:
December 28th, 2009 at 4:48 am
Rumi bhai,
I must admit I didn’t get a chance to look into the details of the allegation and wrote this based on what was stated on Amar Desh report which was entirely based on an anonymous letter. Had the report included any of the research that you did for your blog piece, not many people would have complain about it. The sub standard report followed by the daily pictures and garlands and party workers made the whole thing suspect. As I have also privately argued, the recent report on Daily Star on connecting Tareq Zia to August 21st attack was a substandard one as well and was mostly based on remand confessions. I have my opinions on whether he was involved or not but the report itself lacked the standard that it deserved. I also noted that there are many angles to the amardesh-chevron-joy affair story and I highlighted one of them (substandard reports for political milage). The issue of transparency is certainly a legitimate one as you have correctly pointed out in your piece and should be highlighted by all means. But I will still stand my ground and say there has been nothing in any report published so far to connect the PM’s son to these allegations other than the anonymous letter. That itself is not enough for a journalistic standard to push a front page picture of him and create a stir.
Saif,
I am not for curbing press freedom at all as I stated but I am not for businessmen and politicians using their money to buy channels and papers to resort to unfair tactics in the name of press freedom. Having done a study on the media recently, there is no doubt in my mind that media is used by certain quarters for its nuisance value to get unfair leverage on business deals. This is well known in the media circle. Most of the papers and the channels are red. They are subsidized by other businesses of owners.
So the law of competition does not apply here. I was pointing to creating a space where a recourse is possible outside the court to maintain a certain standard. In this blog, we noted the case of Aditi Chowdhury and how her life and career was ruined by scandalous posts. There are other instances of this as well like that of Tasneem Khalil. As I said, the law of competition does not apply for newspapers because these are non profit entities in Bangladesh.
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Syeed Reply:
December 28th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
Rumi bhai,
No doubt that the focus should be on the allegation and the allegation should be investigated.
But when AD itself changes the focus to Mahmudur Rahman’s flower buke receptions; when you had to depend on DS, instead of AD, to make your case for the investigation (for whatever reason that is); when we have experienced in the past that KZ in her two terms and SH during her past tenure did not pursue the political corruption cases properly; when we know that people do not often believe the government or the court when charges are brought against their preferred political leaders/workers (even you frequently raised doubt about the court and the system when BNP leaders were charged or cases were not dismissed in the court) … I do not see a good future for this case.
If the government is truly involved in it, then will you believe that it will investigate it properly? Or, if the investigation finds that the government is innocent, will you trust the findings? You are not asking for an investigation for investigation’s sake, are you?
To make sure that we can keep the focus on the case, we needed a strong right-wing media. While we ask for proper explanation/investigation, let’s also think how that media wing can be strengthened to keep an eye on the government.
But if you are confident that we do not need a strong right-wing media to keep this government on check (in this or in any future allegations); OR if you believe that right wing cannot get any better than AD, then I have nothing to say.
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rumi Reply:
December 28th, 2009 at 11:13 pm
Syeed
I did not HAVE TO depend on Daily Star, rather I CHOSE to base the post solely on DS reporting. I was afraid, otherwise, we would keep focusing how bad is the messenger, and the message would remain out of focus.
In all fairness, agreeing with the disgust expressed at ugly showmanship of Mahmudur Rahman, I feel Amar Desh reporting is better grounded on evidence than Daily Star reports. While DS report is based solely on undisclosed sources, Amardesh report is based on leaked government correspondence.
Remember, BNP never had friends in media. You talk about Jaijaidin. JJD was stubbornly antigovernment even during 91-96 BNP rule. It was the cover story in JJD, MA–Gura, that gave the opposition ( AL- Jamaat-Left alliance) to launch movement against BNP.
During 80s, BNP had no media friend. During the whole of 90s, BNP had no friend but Inqilab. Any politics definitely needs media support. But BNP so far did not do too bad without much media friend. Our system, tradition, culture make the ruling party a demon in a very short time. At that point, media, out of its own business, survival, commercial interest start slowly supporting the main opposition force. After failed 1/11 experiment by prothom Alo et el, BNP still is the only formidable opposition we have.
It is only the first year. Let a few more such $52 million contract goes without transparency, you will see how media will act. In this country you only can never keep all happy at the same time. Those businesses who will not get part of the deals, will start talking about all these hazy contracts.
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jyoti Reply:
December 29th, 2009 at 3:53 am
Correction: the anti-BNP movement of 1994-96 was AL-Jamaat-JP, not AL-Jamaat-left. The largest left party was Gana Forum, and they didn’t join the caretaker andolon. Their MPs (Shahjahan Siraj and 2 others) was re-elected with BNP ticket in 1996 and 2001.
Substantially, I disagree with your main point that BNP doesn’t need a strong media, and anti-incumbency will be enough. It may well be enough to get elected, but then we’ll have a repeat of 2001-06. Hostile media will not give it the benefit of the doubt and honeymoon period a newly elected government deserves. It will develope a seize mentality. It will react out of that mentality. There will be violent repression of opposition voices. There will be political assassinations. As the government’s popularity drops, there will be blatant attempt at rigging the next election. If you think these don’t matter, then that’s a different story.
Syeed Reply:
December 29th, 2009 at 9:32 am
Rumi bhai,
a. You had to refer to DS because you thought we or some other readers will not trust AD the same way as DS. Despite all the wrong things with PA/DS group, they are very influential media now with highest number of subscription, active regional networks (e.g. bondhushova) etc. They don’t even depend on government advertisement (in fact, PA avoids them since the price is low compared to private ads). We need similar media in the right wing to bring balance to it.
b. BNP always have this wrong idea of “having a media friend”. Partisan media doesn’t come to good use no matter how many Dinkal or AD one produces. Media friend cannot be created by the political party. They should revisit the history of Prothom Alo and AD side by side for that.
c. Yes, Jaijaidin reported them along with the “teler drum theory” on declaration of independence. But that doesn’t make it unfriendly to BNP. Otherwise PA would be the worst enemy of AL. You can’t even possible tally/count all the corruption charges PA have brought against the AL leaders. But that made PA more “non-partisan” left wing media and hence it can have an impact. Jaijaidin had the potential to be that non-partisan right-wing media, but you know how that got lost!
Lutfor Reply:
December 30th, 2009 at 10:42 pm
Rumi bhai wrote ‘After failed 1/11 experiment by prothom Alo et el, BNP still is the only formidable opposition we have’.
Do you have evidence that 1/11 was experimented by Prothom Alo? We can only guess and we have some assumptions but do we have enough evidence and ground to support that claim? We were alive that time and know how much it was welcomed by the people at a time when BNP-Jamat was clearly in a position to rig the election. I know Bangladesh is going through the primary stages of democracy and a free-fair election is first important step towards that. Imagine what would happen if we had a flawed election in 2006 with 1 crore 23 lukh fake voters. All discussion with regard to free press would have buried under the water.
tacit Reply:
December 29th, 2009 at 7:13 am
Speaking strictly for myself, one convenient thing about DS is that it is searchable by Google.
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Syeed Reply:
December 29th, 2009 at 7:21 am
You can do the same for AmarDesh too if you can write bangla (unicode).
e.g. put this in google and see:
site:amardeshonline.com থার্ড
tacit Reply:
December 29th, 2009 at 7:24 am
Good to know. Thanks for the tip.
Now all of a sudden ‘press council’ descended as an item to talk about. Do you notice all our institutions are systemetically destroyed? How much we can rely on BIDS’s analyses? it has not been the successive governments that played their role to undermine the sovereignty and strength of those institutions but the professionals like Journalists or economysts could not build their own institutions in our independent country. the main reason, to my understanding like Mahfouz/Matiur, Sarwar or Mahmudur gets their energy from oi ghure fire akoi political jack pot. what ever or however you articulat the whole paradigm unless and until they derives their ethical strength from their professions, left, right, centre nothing will benefit us most in general. Akbar Ali khan had to resign hand his so called institution soon disappear. Think of PSC, UGSC. Even UV. Please do not get me wrong -acting independently or keeping a balance in our system is not easy either.
Again I will repeat here, as I did in my 1st posting, had it not been Joy in one side and MR on the other it would not have attracted so much of naratives.
[Reply]
If Amar Desh’s report was suspect, because of Amar Desh’s editorial stance or Mahmudur Rahman’s BNP ties, then surely the obvious recourse would be to point out the discrepancies in Amar Desh’s reports. Perhaps in the Daily Star, which one supposes is free of any taints of association with BNP.
However, when the story broke, all I remember is Daily Star completely igoring it. So, I ran some Google searches. I see Daily Star articles about Awami League’s reaction to the report, and Dr. Tawfiq-e-Elahi’s denial, and the cases filed against Mahmudur Rahman. I didn’t see any analysis or any editorials about this story after Amar Desh printed its reports, although there are plenty of stories from earlier about how the Chevron project had some irregularities.
If I am missing the pertinent editorials and reports, I would be glad to be corrected. But otherwise, how fair is attacking the news report because of Amar Desh’s editorial stance and concluding that the news report is spin? I mean, none of the other papers, center-left, center-right, or center, have been able to poke any holes in the report so far.
[Reply]
Victims of this kind of journalism are usually not powerful people like Mr wajed (or even Mr Tarique — it wasn’t journalists who broke his back). These are powerful people who can defend themselves against media. Victims are often people such as those mentioned here:
http://www.prothom-alo.com/detail/date/2009-12-28/news/28885
Did anyone ask Shahidul Islam or Ramendra Chandra’s side of the story? Even the accusations are from নাম প্রকাশে অনিচ্ছুক
Asif may know better as he is travelling the length and breadth of the country. I was told by the local reporter of a national daily in 2005 that many such reports are done as a kind of blackmail: you write your report of corruption, call up the supposedly corrupt and say ‘Sir, report to leikha falaisi, Dhaka-i pathaiya dimu kina chinta kortasi’.
Before anyone says ‘corrupt journalist should be sent to jail….’, the guy’s monthly salary was 2,000 taka — hardly enough to run a family of 7 (wife, 2 kids, parents, unmarried sister).
The problem here is much deeper than anything a bureaucratic institution will solve. I don’t see any chance of self regulation. And a centralised authority will only make the matters worse. Imagine if Nayeemul Islam Khan or Mahmudur Rahman get to run this council?
And the competition logic does work.
Firstly, you are thinking of profit in a narrow, accounting sense. When a big businessman or politician is getting into media, they have certain aims which if unmet it’s not worth their while. Therefore, if they are not making profit in the broader sense (whitening black money, consolidating their hold in the party, whatever), they will quit.
Secondly, nationally or for high profile cases like this, technology allows us to ask pertinent questions, if not provide the answers, relatively easily. If Mr Wazed is interested in clearing his name, and doesn’t want to go through the court because it is time consuming, he can simply revive his blog. I’m using him as an example because the post is based on the allegations against him. But in general, the technology and competition means that for every ‘uro chithi’ allegation, there are recourses. You mention Aditi Sengupta. If I recall correctly, it was the emergency that prevented her from taking such recourses.
Thirdly, even in the local, upazilla-level cases, there are ways one can defend themselves against false accusations. Local society has its own rules and norms. No one is going to accuse a powerless non-entity.
Sorry bro, this microeconomist is not convinced with your story. And I worry how some day in future, this very post will be used to remind everyone that even a big-time human rights activists also said ‘media has too much freedom’. In the age of google, nothing is ever forgotten.
[Reply]
Jyoti,
You remember the case of Shoibal Shaha Partha who was in jail for seven months for allegedly plotting August 21st attack. No body hired him for any jobs for months. In this country, you just need an allegation in ‘the paper’ (regardless of which one it is). You also remember the report printed on Naeem and myself on Manabjamin. Okay we have technology to tell our story but the outreach is very very limited and had the state wanted to destroy us based on those reports, they could have done it. Manabjamin did not even print our protest. Many, many people read that story but how many read our blog post? You remember the case of Tasneem Khalil and how the ‘free press’ accused him of ‘laptop shorojontro’. Surely, Joy has people to speak for himself and he is powerful enough. But this sort of story has a larger significance — it creates apathy among people about politics and democracy. ‘They are all the same, they are all Chors’, “Dui netri-r jonno desh gelo”. Yes, they create a false sense of equality among the real chors and others. Again, I am not saying that the PM’s son involvement is there or not there. But at this point there is nothing to connect the two dots. I read tons of stories about how Sheikh Rehana had shares in ETV — thanks to Jai Jai Din. I have seen the documents myself of the company and there was nothing there. It was all creative journalism. Someone who is in a position of power does not mean that he/she is out there abusing it. When we are apathetic about our politics, there is nothing more detrimental for the future of political engagement for the country? Certainly the real issue is transparency here, as Saif and Rumi has said. We should continue to harp on it and I am glad that e-procurements are going to be in place soon in some ministries. But don’t forget the other side issues as well.
Suggestion or discussion on regulatory bodies are meant for protecting individual’s rights not to abused by media — exactly the kind you mention in your comment.
The guidelines of OfCom is here: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consumeradvice/guide/
I hear you when you say that a body like this will be misused in our country. But
such regulation in UK does not mean that free speech is not protected. I highlight the points here:
Our legal duties
Our main legal duties, as set out in the UK Communications Act 2003, are to ensure:
the UK has a wide range of electronic communications services, including high-speed information services (for example, broadband);
a wide range of high-quality television and radio programmes are provided, appealing to a range of tastes and interests;
television and radio services are provided by a range of different organisations;
people who watch television and listen to the radio are protected from harmful or offensive material;
people are protected from being treated unfairly in television and radio programmes, and from having their privacy invaded; and
the radio spectrum (the airwaves used by everyone from taxi firms and boat owners, to mobile-phone companies and broadcasters) is used in the most effective way.
We are funded by:
fees from industry for regulating broadcasting and communications networks; and grant-in-aid from the Government.
We answer to the UK Parliament but we are independent of the UK Government. The Government Departments that sponsor us are the Department for Business and Regulatory Reform and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consumeradvice/guide/
If I get misquoted as someone asking for gagging the media, I am sure you will be there to defend me. But I stand corrected that bodies such as this may be a good idea a 40/50 years down the road when we actually have model independent institutions in our country:)
[Reply]
tacit Reply:
December 28th, 2009 at 7:22 am
Is apathy about politics really a danger in BD? I have my doubts about that. Isn’t this story rather a positive aspect of our democracy?
Let me try to understand what you’re saying. Are you advocating that Amar Desh should have not published this report, so that no false equality be created between “real chors and others?”
[Reply]
Asif Reply:
December 28th, 2009 at 8:47 am
What I am trying to say is simple: there isn’t anything in the report or on the findings so far to link the PM’s son to this. Yet the front page story had his picture and sensationalism implying that he was involved in this alleged irregularity. There was no corroboration to any of the allegations against him. This is tantamount to defamation. Such defamation via press to serve one’s own political and personal interest is common in Bangladesh. There is no space for recourse except the court of law which itself is backlogged for years. Justice delayed is justice denied. That’s why I wondered aloud if there was a possibility of a space where such grievances could be made and based on clearly defined journalistic standards, it would be determined whether the aggrieved party did get a fair hearing in the newspaper. If those standards were followed, the case could be dismissed. If not, the accused would be vindicated and the newspaper fined. This is the space that I was talking about in the Ofcom model where editors are stopped short of getting dragged to the court and citizens can be spared of unfairly treated by the media.
[Reply]
kgazi Reply:
December 28th, 2009 at 10:55 am
“there isn’t anything in the report or on the findings so far to link the PM’s son to this.”
——
The report just came out few days ago? no investigation has been done yet — how will anything show any links at this point? When Tarek Zia was allegedly stealing billions, there wasnt anything to link him either, it was only after CTG ordered to declare politicians’ assets that all their shenanigans were coming out.
Politicians do not commit corruption with open links and dots for everyone to connect, they do it very discreetly, to keep things covered up. And after the CTG exposure, we can be rest assured that they will be doing their corruption 10 times more discreetly, and more ingeniously – so that few trails are left exposed.
While graft was done openly in BNP times, it will now be done undercover, and what they learnt from that experience of guilt, they will apply to act more secretly.
tacit Reply:
December 28th, 2009 at 11:04 am
So your primary problem with the report is the fact that it mentions Sajeeb Wajed Joy’s name and carries his picture?
Asif Reply:
December 28th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
Gazi bhai, my point was largely on the media reporting. If at the end of the day, a contract was awarded without tender, it must be investigated by the proper authority and ACC.
Say there is a newspaper report tomorrow on Janakantha on illegal land grabbing in Dhanmondi and your name is mentioned there as a beneficiary because an uro chithi claimed that you were involved in hiring the gundas. Your picture is also flashed in the front page with a headline : Allegation against K Gazi of grabbing hundreds of acres of land in Dhaka. Are you going to first see the quality of the evidence presented that justifies inclusion of your name in the report? or will you simply agree to be investigated by the authority quietly? Surely the allegation must be investigated if there is substance to it. But wouldn’t you expect a bit more ethics and more evidence in the report itself for including your name in it? Wouldn’t you expect that the journalist would try to get in touch with you to get your version of the story?
kgazi Reply:
December 28th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
Asif, to be really honest, I would not only simply agree to be nvestigated by the authority quietly, but actually **invite** them to come and investigate me, before seeing the quality of the evidence, or the report – so that there would be no suspicion whatsoever, in public or in the law, that I may be guilty. I would then ask the authorities, that after they find NO evidence in me being guilty, that they announce to the media that the report was bogus.
I would **expect** newspaper reports to be ethical and based on solid evidence, however if I was the BD PM’s son, I would not rely purely on the ethical judgement of newspaper gossip/reports/editorials to clear my personal integrity. I would take additional steps to make sure that ALL my activities were CRYSTAL CLEAR transparent, and in that effort, I would leave all doors open to every public/private counsils/bodies/journalists to come and review all my bank accounts, documents and assets, so that there would NOT be a single piece of corruption in my records for ‘uro chitis’ to bad mouth.
kgazi Reply:
December 28th, 2009 at 11:47 pm
Asif,
Above response shows MY personal character and how I deal with establishing my personal integrity. We all know that NOT everyone have the same way of dealing with transparency, and when sitting on a treasure chest of gold, most people become pirates!!
So to deal with protecting national assets & revenue, and to control politicians’ greed, MOST countries have a LAW to subject politicians to Disclosure of Financial assets. eg In USA every single, judge, senator, congressman, official, president, is required by law to disclose all thier documents and financial, activities in public. Its known as the FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE LAW.
In BD, we also need such a law, to monitor the financial activity of peon to PM, in the absence of which, we are being robbed of national revenue by our holy politicians. See link below as a random example of how US requires such disclosures:
http://www.senate.state.tx.us/SRC/pdf/Ethics-2007-web.pdf
btw, on Conflict of Interest, here’s a copy from page 7 of above doc:
“”Soliciting Contracts
A senator may not have either direct or indirect interest in a contract with the state or a county when the contract has been authorized or funded by a legislature of which the senator was a member. Conflict of interest is addressed by common law doctrine. If it is found that the senator has an interest in a contract, it may result in the contract being invalidated.””
Did Joy have any interest in the subject BD contract??
jyoti Reply:
December 29th, 2009 at 4:20 am
Let me start with where I disagree, so that when we come to agreement, it will be a happy ending.
1. But this sort of story has a larger significance — it creates apathy among people about politics and democracy.
I doubt this happens. If stories like these really created apathy, we would still be blogging about Moeen’s latest choshma. I think a quarter or third of the voting public already believes that AL is taking the country to the dogs, and to them, this report is just a confirmation that the next generation of AL-ers are also terrible people. Meanwhile, another quarter or third simply refuse to acknowledge that anything bad could happen under AL, and would look for a conspiracy explanation behind everything that could go wrong. You can replace AL with BNP and the basic point holds. The rest of the voting public patiently waits for their turn at the voting booth, and expresses their feelings. I think if AL performs in solving the energy crisis, keep the prices stable, and improves law and order, these people will re-elect it. If AL doesn’t perform, it won’t be re-elected.
2. It seems that by portraying Sajeeb Wajed as a victim here (which he may well be), you also clouded the main message. I had to read it twice to get the main message, because at first glance it did read a bit like a defence of Mr Wajed (hardly an unheard voice that needs to be amplified) when your main point is journalistic standards. Perhaps if you used Shoibal Shaha Partha as the example in the original post, there would have been less confusion.
3. I agree that ‘creative journalism’, whether it comes from Mahmudur or Matiur Rahman, JJD or Salahuddin Shoaib Chowdhury, is a major problem. We also seem to agree that an ‘independent council’ is not feasible. So what’s the solution then? I’m here not concerned about powerful people who can use many means to take their side of the story to the court of public opinion (see point 1). What is the solution for people like Partha? This is not a rhetorical question. To me, this seems to be the real point of the post.
4. Now that I understand you, fear not my brother, my
penkeyboard will be fully with you if you get misrepresented.[Reply]
@Asif, I think what AD was trying to do is Sensationalism and succeeded doing that quite efficiently. Where they may have violated the code of ethics is the title / headline of the story. The very news may have increased their readership, that’s probably what they wanted to achieve any way. There may be political motives behind this report, but it may also have commercial interests !! ” But wouldn’t you expect a bit more ethics and more evidence in the report itself for including your name in it ?” Yes, you do, but that’s only in the concepts. Names are being dropped without sufficient evidence everywhere including parliament deliberations ! You like it or not that’s the culture. You just can not bring in reform in the the culture by writing set of code of ethics.
Our media is largely owned by personalities with tainted background with extremely strong political interests. Be it Right, Left or Centre all are more or less wrapped in party flags. There is no dearth of news papers on the stand. One wonders where the money is coming from to run them ? Even many editors like MR, Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury are active politicians. “Doliokoron” has been completed in electronic media with granting of licences to Mozammel Babu ( what’s not transparent is his source of fund ) and other AL activists to match BNP leaning media owners. Few media barons has been dubbed as “Tabedars ” of foreign interests as well. Their mission and code of ethics are crystal clear ! Nothing to explain.
Code of Ethics are for professionals and it’s not easy to become one. Some has to spend a lifetime to become a “professional”. MR may be a brilliant professional engineer, but I can’t check him out as a professional editor. He is no Abdus Salam ! That’s why he doesn’t understand ” Media Reporting” you are referring to. He doesn’t understand that information and opinion are two different things. He is not alone in the bandwagon. Like personal letters / debates published in Amader Shomoy front page are not reports! They are opinions ! I hope using news papers as blogs do not become a standard !!!!
[Reply]
This post is a government friendly – pro government – (and so by link pro – AL) opinion. The fact that a job was assigned worth 52 million $ without tender is enough to raise suspicion. The fact that energy adviser (or secretary?) went to USA to meet the probashi is simply the joke of the year. HE LIED and that is proved by the embassy newsletter publishesd by Rumi. The fact that he met the Chevron officials at US (as indicated in Rumi’s Blog) should have been enough to raise question and alas – here we find literate bloggers conveniently overlooking this grave symptoms and trying to shade light on journalistic philosophy.
Now suddenly news paper has more freedom then they need. Now suddenly newsmedia is dushmon. As if never before in the history of Bangladesh any news paper ever published any news based on hearsay or leak. As if using the unnamed source is and was never the norm of journalism.
I wonder if the writer has any inherent interest in safeguarding the interest of the ruling party! I found the writer very vocal for slightest mistake of any other government and now his voice is heard only when the govt needs some pro govrnment voice to safeguard its interest. Unheard voice indeed.
Will this be published? If so thank you.
[Reply]
Syeed Reply:
December 29th, 2009 at 6:32 am
Mr/Ms Free press,
This is the problem! When you flag some very valid points under “fake name” and “fake email”, the actual message gets clouded (or snowed under) by the suspicious nature of the messenger. Hence the talk on media I guess
[Reply]
kgazi Reply:
December 29th, 2009 at 6:49 am
Making a lot of hoi-choi about “fake name” and “fake email”, fake journalist, is just a massive diversion from the real message:
Is the subject fake ??
[Reply]
Syeed Reply:
December 29th, 2009 at 7:27 am
“Is the subject fake? ”
What subject? The $52 million job without tender OR Joy’s involvement?
Not sure even for once anyone denied the first one. All I’m saying is, the second allegation was made without any proof/reference and we need strong press to find that proof since we do not have trust on the government machinery (see my comments here).
How my call for strong press is a “massive diversion” if your call for “independent body” is not a “massive diversion”? Unless you want to keep the right-wing media “যেই তিমীরে সেই তিমীরেই” for some other reasons!
Free Press Reply:
December 29th, 2009 at 7:26 am
Thanks KGazi for pointing out the crux – the message.
In my message post I used two words to name the poster ‘Free Press’. I used 101 word to convey my opinion. There must be another couple of hundreds in total. Sayeed got the message conveyed in two ironical words but completely ignored the message conveyed through 100s of words.
Sayeed, how does my name clouds the message? Lets say for arguments sake I have pro-BNP bias. So what! If a truth is told by a BNP supporter does that make the truth a lie? Does it change the message that you convey just because you are a AL supporter.
Anyway. leaving things aside – if I am Rahim – how does that change the message I conveyed? Sp replace trhe ‘Free Press’ by Rahim. Could I have your focus now on the message?
There is a serious allegation on the air about $5 Million and Joy – the current Prince. Given the history of our country and of our politics, we the general people people have every right to be suspicious until an investigation is done and there is a clear reason given as to why no tender was sought?
WHY A WORK ORDER FOR ALMOST 400 CRORE WAS ALLOTTED WITHOUT Any tender?
IS THAT A GOOD GOVERNANCE?
AL, nor BNP are an angel. Neither are you or me. That is why Bongobondhu did sarcastically ask ‘ amar kombol koi gelo’.
P.S. Sayeed – I didn’t use a fake email nor a fake ID. I used a pseudo name. SO far I understand, DP – UV did not bar posting anyone using pseudo name. If they do, I will comply. If they don’t, who are you to q
[Reply]
Syeed Reply:
December 29th, 2009 at 7:33 am
Oh, that’s a pseudo! My mistake =)
I did not ignore your other hundred words… read my comment again, I said “very valid points”.
If you read my other comments, you will know that I am not discarding anything for being “BNP supporter”… its rather opposite… I am asking for a right-wing media.
[Reply]
Free Press Reply:
December 29th, 2009 at 8:01 am
How about a Bangladesh – wing media? Would you rather not be the voice of Bangladesh rather than left or right? I see that in KGAZI.
Syeed Reply:
December 29th, 2009 at 8:33 am
Free Press,
For strong democracy, you definitely need left and right wing if you believe in difference in opinions.
Leaders who believed that we do not need left or right party, we just need one single patriots’ party…. well, they all end up threatening the democracy. Yes, that includes BAKSAL too (whatever the goal behind that was).
However, right or left wing media should not be confused with “partisan” media. Bangladesh had them all along (Banglar Bani, Dinkal, Songram for instance).
And you definitely need the third-eye (may be that’s what you mean by Bangladesh wing, others some call them civil-society). But the strength of third-eye depend on the strength of left and right wings (otherwise, the civil society become the left of right wing).
A point is being made repeatedly, i.e. hollowness of the link between Sajib Wajed and the corruption case. No doubt Amardesh sensationalized the story. Who would not?
Suppose, a memo is written from one department to another department of the government to investigate a letter accusing a shady deal between govt and Chevron and bribe taking by the offspring of the son/ daughter of the president/PM to facilitate the deal. Suppose this takes place in USA, or UK or Australia or NZ or you name it. Somehow those memo, back and forth between department gets leaked to a media outlet of that respective government.
How the media would treat the news? I guess they would try to communicate the persons involved before publishing it. But they would publish it with magnitude of sensationalization depending on their political relationship with the govt.
Thus, I would not blame AD for bringing in Sajib Wajed’s name. But it would be more appropriate to get Mr Wajed’s POV in the report also.
This journalistic ethics is absent in Bangladesh. Starting from highest circulating Prothom Alo to all other newspaper, the reporters/ editors need to learn this basic requirement of reporting.
[Reply]
Syeed Reply:
December 29th, 2009 at 8:27 am
Agree without any qualification.
[Reply]
rumi Reply:
December 30th, 2009 at 5:12 am
So after all these discussions, all point-counter points, we are agreeing that Amar Desh and it’s editor did nothing wrong in this report except for not asking Mr Wajed for his reactions?
[Reply]
Syeed Reply:
December 30th, 2009 at 6:51 am
Rumi bhai,
In your previous comment, which I agreed, you did NOT say “Amar Desh and it’s editor did nothing wrong”. Except for Joy’s POV, here is what you said and I agreed:
a. I agreed that Amar Desh (or any other paper you may say) “published it with magnitude of sensationalization depending on their political relationship with the govt”.
b. Based on the same relationship AD has with AL, YES I agree that you “would not blame AD for bringing in Sajib Wajed’s name”.
c. This journalistic ethics is absent in Bangladesh. … reporters/ editors need to learn this basic requirement of reporting.
Your each and every comment just reconfirmed my core argument that AD’s reports is based on “its relationship with the government” and that is why we need a non-partisan right-wing media which will write based on its relationship with “ideology”.
kgazi Reply:
December 29th, 2009 at 10:05 am
“But it would be more appropriate to get Mr Wajed’s POV in the report also. ”
—
Do you really think Mr. Wajed would respond to AD’s request for comment? It may have gone something like:
AD: “Mr. Wajed, we have an allegation, a leaked info, that you got $5M bribe from …., can you please give us your POV ?”
JOY: “From Amar what?, newspaper? …bleeeeeep (phone hangs up) !!
In the absence of Joy’s POV before the report, I believe AD needs to be applauded for printing the allegation anyway. If Joy believes it was baseless, then it will be in his interest to issue a comment AFTER the report is published, to clear his interest. Now, if a response does NOT come for Mr Wajed, then we can make other assumptions.
The reason why its important to encourage publishing this type of reports is to keep check on politicians. The worst thing that can happen for anti-corruption and ‘a stronger press’ is if, after all the ATTACKS and threats on the media, if the press stops printing any more corruption reports for the next 5 years. That would really be a disaster for democracy.
[Reply]
Syeed Reply:
December 29th, 2009 at 11:14 am
Guilty until proven innocent?
Is this what Mr Free Press meant by “Bangladesh-wing” (sigh)?
[Reply]
kgazi Reply:
December 29th, 2009 at 12:01 pm
Report of **allegation** is not proven guilty or innocent,
its a story that needs to be investigated.
Syeed Reply:
December 29th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
Sure **allegation** doesn’t make someone guilty.
But I was thinking what you meant by “if a response does NOT come for Mr Wajed, then we can make other assumptions”.
Anyone might find responding to someone like Mahmudur Rahman is not worth it. After all, he is only interested in his own glory at the expense of “in-laws to out-laws” (if you know what I mean). In his previous attempts, most people didn’t even bother responding to him. Hence non response can have different meaning other than being guilty.
That is why we need a credible enough media who can create public support to compel the politicians to respond once an allegation has been made (a quick googling will tell you that such response rate to jaijaidin (during its golden age) or PA/DS are mush higher than to Banglar Bani, AD, Dinkal, Shongram type third class newspapers).
kgazi Reply:
December 29th, 2009 at 10:17 pm
We need a credible enough governance just as we need a credible enough media. But cannot blame Mahmudur Rahman for corrupt governance. But we cannot shut down the media bcos of leaks & allegations. This is the total system we have (govt & media), and this is where Joy is getting involved. He has to act the way the public expects him to.
There is an allegation, and Joy has to respond, and clarify himself. If he does not, then people will understand or assume that the allegation must be true, and will be compared same as TZ.
Beyond that, 3 more actions must be taken by AL, to remove suspicions agaisnt this govt and Joy:
1) make all contracts imvolvng Joy transparent
2) clarify what exactly happened with the $52M contract
3) discipline those who attacked the AD journalists.
After that – improve the total system.
Syeed Reply:
December 30th, 2009 at 7:08 am
Kgazi,
I simply asked if Mr Joy will be guilty if he doesn’t respond to AD. That is, should he be guilty until he prove himself innocent?
It’s okay if you believe that “if he does not, then people will understand or assume that the allegation must be true”.
I just wanted to know your stance, that’s all.
kgazi Reply:
December 30th, 2009 at 9:06 am
With AL being in ‘power’, there is too much unhealthy protection on Joy thru AL, judiciary, govt, and awami support to declare him guilty, and too much weakness in the alleging system.
And so, if he himself or AL doesn’t prove him innocent, then to me personally, he is guilty. The result is loss of my trust, my endorsement and my vote.
Syeed Reply:
December 30th, 2009 at 9:56 am
Cool. You have every right to think it that way.
PS: I found your last statement (i.e. AL is going to loose your trust, endorsement and vote) very interesting. But I agree, if they don’t remain disciplined, they too will face the fate of BNP in the next election.
kgazi Reply:
December 30th, 2009 at 11:17 am
I actually meant Joy himself will lose my trust…..vote.
But are YOU happy to let this kind of exploitation of national revenue continue for 4 more years? without challenge and repair, where once TZ then Joy will continue this blatant rampage of the nation in alternate turns, every 5 years?? Cos I am not.
There has to be a solution where such blatant exploitation MUST be disciplined immediately, and not wait till end of term. Whose responsibility is it in our civilian govt, to bring discipline to nepotism & unethical corruption, if it takes place right in the PM’s office?
Syeed Reply:
December 30th, 2009 at 11:31 am
I am with you on need for a solution before its too late.
You have asked this “how to” question at the end. Well, I have been presenting my POV (i.e. credible non-partisan media) as a solution to this, you have presented yours (e.g. as you said “whether its controlled journalism, independent counsel, SC body, 3rd party, ethics council, journalist council, whatever – a council is needed”).
But I guess, like the previous CTG regime, few commentators here are just happy with labeling an allegation and don’t want to talk about a sustainable solution.
I
darewonder how they will answer to your spot-on question!kgazi Reply:
December 30th, 2009 at 10:35 pm
Syeed, you have been drilling “a strong media” in every comment. Sadly, strong media is only good for health, but its not going to cure the disease. Once cancer sets in, just healthy foods are not enough, need real medicine. And my sugg for ‘council’ was only to verify Joy’s allegation – NOT to fix the fish-head corruption.
Good news is YOU agree there is a problem, most diehard AL supporters dont. When TZ was stealing, who had the most power in BD, to stop him? Khaleda? If Joy also steals, who has most power to stop him? Hasina??
If there is corruption in the top office, in Japan the PM commits suicide, in USA they impeach the presidnt, in BD & Pak the army kicks in – dont you think Hasina & Khaleda and their followers better start a NEW system in BD to put an end to that disease, on an urgent basis, before army takes over again?
The medicine is – (tada !!) – a checks & balance system of governance.
Before spending entire govt time & money on this trial & that trial for 5 years, Hasina & Khaleda can cure the disease by gathering & sitting down together with judiciary, MP’s, minsiter, national think-tanks/intelectuals and CREATE a national checks & balance system. USA did this in 1776, before the first pres stepped in. BD & Pak never did it – because I believe our politicians dont know what it is!!
What is the benefit for Hasina? Joy, army & people will be happy!!
Syeed Reply:
December 31st, 2009 at 4:06 am
I know your sugg for council was “only to verify Joy’s allegation”, and agree that checks and balance is the most suitable solution. I had to bring in the media issue repeatedly just to justify/clarify why I brought it at the first place! I never thought it before that any talk beyond “allegation” would be doubted as distraction. But I guess that’s just an allegation too
May be its just me, but I won’t bet on political parents (i.e. the PM) on this one. If love is blind, parents’ love is disabled. A reading of last four decade’s politics tells me, politicians don’t learn from the history. We can only hope that it will be different.
I would rather love to have a detailed discussion on checks and balance in the governance “some other time”. Though this checks and balance has lured US to politicize their supreme court and often complicated things, its better than জোর যার মুল্লুক তার.
Anyway, let’s hope this particular case doesn’t end up with being an “unresolved allegation” like most other political corruptions.
Dilbor Reply:
December 29th, 2009 at 9:46 pm
Totally agree with Kgazi. I think the report might not have even seen the light of day if the govt. machinations had known earlier. They would have tried to muzzle AD. If the response was so harsh in public after publishing – just imagine what would have been behind closed doors. Overall – this posting has not been totally surprising to me but what I am astonished how the ideals of press freedoms and democracy get turned on their head if the wrong news is published. Whole posting is not about the message but shooting the messenger.
Its clear that UV establishment has taken a stand to protect Mr. Joy’s name at all cost because he is the crown prince.
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Syeed Reply:
December 30th, 2009 at 4:24 am
Mr Dilbor,
Even AD’s allegations are stronger than your “allegation” against “UV establishment”.
The “UV establishment” includes a number of writer/admin who have totally opposite views on many things. You will be amazed to know how often this same “UV establishment” has been accused of being pro-BNP before. FYI, many commentators who are writing in this very post disagreeing with each other are all part of “UV establishment”. We believe you don’t need to be of same opinion to be like minded. এখানে সমমনের মানুষ, সমমতের মানুষ নই।
PS: If you read carefully, you will see even I never for once judged Mt Joy as innocent or guilty. My conversation with Rumi bhai and Kgazi is on “how to engage proper right-wing media to keep AL under tight scrutiny”.
I think the crux of what Asif bhai has suggested can be resolved by implementing a body (which might not necessarily be bureaucratic. Why the assumption that anything in Bangladesh has to be bureaucratic, and, by extension, corruptible?) which watches the network of communication (including advertising).
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What is surprising about this post is that it completely ignores the allegation and started crucifying the messanger. Accepted that the paper has BNP bias. Which paper does not have any bias in Bangladesh? Is there no paper biased towards AL/ Do we question their reporting?
Asif gave a link from ‘Amader Shomoy’ indicating that is worth readibng. The writing of amader shomoy is in defence of JOY. Are we to forget what Asif or UV posts thought about Amader Shomoy when CTG was in power? How good a paper was it according to their opinion?
Lets takle a look at the blog as words say lot more than my personal take.
This blog stated following:
http://unheardvoice.net/blog/2008/02/08/whats-cooking/
Here is the interesting take: “…. The DGFI Backed Amader Shomoy ……..” under what’s cooking – by Tiktiki on Feb 08, 2008. So the blog or some Bloggers here believed that Amaders Shomoy was DGFI Backed. Today – it has become credible?
http://unheardvoice.net/blog/2008/08/07/on-the-city-council-elections/
Key take: “Regime supporting Amader Shomoy…” – so the blog that was quite vocal later against the regime (CTG) was of opinion that AS supported the regime.
Amader Shomoy was the shameless pachata of the CTG when CTG was in Power. Now it is of course no more pa chata but pro govt credible newspaper. The paper changes its color like the season. Which is oklay when we consider that the news paper is also a big business in this country and many other places.
So – The paper which lost its total credibility according to this blog posts of many today becomes a friend of Asif – the author, and he is telling us – it is worth reading. What is the author thinking? I wonder….what a change? The paper that supported CTG that advocated minus two formula today becomes pro AL credible news writer that is quoted as a defence of the FIRST BOY
The Prince.
Here is the best part: The link that author gave states that “Ekjon Shikkhito Jubok ……Jini Awami Rajnitir Dhare Kache Nei ……… Nitantoi low profiler manush”.
Are the readers all idiot literate to believe that in Bangladesh – Joy AL Politics er dhare kache nai? Or Tareq BNPer dhare kache nai just because he is in UK? Is that believable? May be when it comes to Tareq it is not believable. In case of Joy it is.
Well I suppose since author advocated it as a worth reading piece – he must be believing that.
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Naeem Reply:
December 30th, 2009 at 10:48 am
Rahim wrote> “Asif or UV”
UV is a blog with many individual members, there are multiple political POV under this network. It’s not one person, it’s a network.
I am a UV member, and I get worried at idea of any new structure to “oversee” media. It will be abused by the politicians to curb free press. But Asif and I do not have to agree on this, we are free to post here on UV with our divergent views.
Similarly, Rumi is a regular poster on UV. He disagreed with my post on 3PSN and posted on comments area. And we will continue to disagree on some issues, and continue posting on UV.
UV is not like BNP or AL, there are disagreements and multiple political POV under this network. Look through UV carefully (not selectively) over the years and you will see posts critiquing AL, BNP, CTG, everyone.
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How Amader Shomoy was viewed by This Blog during CTG: Here is more:
http://unheardvoice.net/blog/2007/11/09/foreign-press-watch-cost-of-corruption/
The blog wrote that the editor defended the accusation of its military attachment.
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This is all about drowning out the real message with technicalities such as “check on right-wing” media. This post has taken OJ Simpson’s Defense Team tactics – attack on the procedural issues to discredit the whole message and divert the attention to someone else ( e.g. Mahmudur Rahman’s BNP bias). This
” unprintable “is a commonly used trick for turning the focus on other issues. This is being help by tagteam of some “human right & pro-democracy” bloggers who are proposing a curb or check on the media. This is a new low when Amader Shomoy, a cheap tabloidish – ” any news for right price” newspaper , is used as reference as the straw to hold on to.Guys, bottom line is there was a contract signed without any transparent bidding process and some key names from PM’s office ( in fact – both of them are her advisors
) came up from PetroBangla. It has to be investigated open and transparent manner ( i.e. not another project for Mr. Kahar Akhand). Is it too much to ask ?
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Asif, what is the stand of yours in terms of the allegation? Should this be investigated? Or simply ignored believing that there is nothing wrong? What is your stand on the fact that the work has been assigned without tender? Thanks
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