Information and Broadcasting State Minister Yaser Khan Chowdhury has urged online news portals to play a responsible role against terrorism, communalism and fascism, while upholding democratic values and the people’s right to vote.
He also stressed the need to maintain professional standards in registered online news portals and involve professional journalists to ensure the quality and credibility of news reporting.
The state minister made the remarks at an exchange of views with members of the executive committee of the Online News Portal Association Bangladesh (ONAB) at the meeting room of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on Thursday.
He said news coverage should reflect the sacrifices made by the people of Bangladesh in their struggle for democracy and voting rights.
During the meeting, representatives of online news portals raised several demands, including access to government advertisements, digital versions of government press releases and supplementary advertisements (government advertisements known as crores), audits of news portals and the cancellation of annual registration renewal fees.
Yaser Khan Chowdhury said he considered most of the demands reasonable.
However, he noted that the new government could not implement all the demands overnight, adding that the government was willing to extend support to online media outlets.
Emphasising the importance of professional standards, he said readers would lose interest in online news portals if they failed to provide quality journalism and engaging content. Therefore, portals must recruit skilled and professional journalists to maintain their standards.
The state minister also said the government would gradually hold discussions with content creators alongside online news media representatives.
He added that initiatives would be taken to formulate necessary policies through discussions involving the Information and Broadcasting Minister, the state minister and relevant advisers. All stakeholders would be consulted before finalising any policy.
Speaking at the meeting, ONAB President Mostafa Kamal Majumder said the government should ensure necessary facilities, including advertisements, to help registered online news portals that comply with government regulations sustain their operations. He also sought a positive approach from the government towards the organisation’s members.
ONAB General Secretary Syed Nurul Huda (Rono) called for replacing the annual renewal of online news portal registrations with an audit-based system. He also urged the government to ensure that registered portals receive government advertisements.
He pointed out that entrepreneurs were investing substantial amounts of money in online news media but there was no clear policy on how ownership and management responsibilities would be transferred to legal heirs following the death of an owner.
He called for a specific law or policy addressing ownership and succession issues in the online media sector.
Among others, ONAB Vice-President Latiful Bari Hamim, former General Secretary Shaheen Chowdhury, Senior Joint Secretary Md Ashraful Kabir and executive committee members Touhidur Islam Mintu, Syed Arifuzzaman and Yusuf Hawladar also spoke at the meeting.
Other members of the organisation’s executive committee were present.
