Sam Jahan resigns from press accreditation policy reform committee

Journalist Sam Jahan has resigned from the committee responsible for recompiling and reforming the Press Accreditation Policy 2022.

Sam Jahan, who works for Reuters TV, is also the founding convener of Bangladeshi Journalists in International Media (BJIM), an organization representing Bangladeshi journalists working for foreign media outlets.

On Thursday (February 6), he announced his resignation in a Facebook post, stating, "The report that the committee is set to submit is not journalist-friendly at all; rather, it is government-friendly. Representatives of journalist unions were hastily involved in an attempt to justify the process, which is unfortunate. I strongly object to this policy and have voluntarily resigned from the committee."

Sam Jahan further explained, "My role in the committee, along with other journalist union leaders, was to represent journalists working in international media."

He added, "I completely disagree with the final draft prepared in three meetings. Under my representation, I submitted written proposals incorporating valuable opinions from at least 85 journalists, but not a single one was accepted. In the final meeting, held with very limited time, there was no opportunity for adequate discussion before finalizing the draft policy."

Regarding the policy itself, he stated, "I cannot disclose its contents at the moment since it has not been published yet. However, if it is not rewritten in a logical, practical, and timely manner, I fear it will backfire severely."

On January 16, the government formed a 17-member committee, headed by President's Press Secretary Md. Sarwar Alam. The Deputy Chief Information Officer (Protocol) Mohammad Kamruzzaman Bhuiyan from the Department of Information serves as the secretary of the committee.

The committee is expected to submit its report to the Secretary of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting by Monday, February 10.