BNP will ensure media freedom if in power: Salahuddin Ahmed

BNP Standing Committee member and the party's candidate for Chakaria-Pekua constituency, Salahuddin Ahmed, has said, "The role of the media must be neutral. This is because the media has a major social responsibility. Journalists must play a responsible role to ensure that misinformation or disinformation does not create any confusion in society."

Salahuddin Ahmed made these remarks at a 'Meet the Press' event held at a community centre in Jidda Bazar area of Chakaria upazila on Wednesday morning.

This Standing Committee member of the BNP said that the country has separate press institutes and relevant bodies for media regulation, discipline, and complaint investigation. However, social responsibility is a matter of the journalist's own conscience. In this regard, ensuring responsibility is the primary duty of the journalistic community.

Salahuddin Ahmed further stated that BNP's 31-point program includes a promise to ensure full freedom for the country's media, which is also mentioned in the party's election manifesto. He also assured that necessary reform initiatives would be undertaken by forming a separate reform commission for the media.

The BNP leader informed that a Media Reform Commission had been formed, which has already submitted its report. If a BNP government is formed, that report will be reviewed and necessary steps will be taken to ensure genuine media freedom.

Salahuddin Ahmed said that where the media can work freely and independently, democracy is strengthened. True democracy can only be established by strengthening democratic structures and institutions. He also mentioned that the BNP is committed to building a democratic Bangladesh as envisioned by the martyrs.

Referring to the digital age, this BNP Standing Committee member said that in the current world, information spreads in an instant. Therefore, the media must work with great caution so that the country's dignity is upheld in the international arena and the democratic system is also strengthened.

Salahuddin Ahmed added that after the BNP formed the government in 1991, the doors of electronic media opened under the leadership of the country's leader, Begum Khaleda Zia, and the development of media began. However, over the last 16 to 17 years, a section of the media has become entangled in partisanship, which is harmful to democracy.

Concluding, the BNP leader said the media's goal should be to protect the country's independence and democracy. Addressing journalists, he said, "Do not do the job of serving an owner, do the job of serving your conscience. If journalists remain accountable to their conscience, the country's media will truly remain free."

Among the journalists who spoke were Cox's Bazar Press Club President Mahbubur Rahman, and journalists Safwanul Karim, Omar Ali, S.M. Hanif, Abdullah Ansari, F.M. Suman, K.M. Nasir Uddin, Shah Mohammad Jahed, Oliullah Roni, among others.

Also present were Chakaria Upazila BNP President Enamul Haque and General Secretary M. Mubarak Ali.