Dhaka, Dec 20
The editor-in-chief of bdnews24.com has
given a call for guidelines to set the standards for public discourse on
social media alongside regulating news media, who are perceived to be
frequently testing the limits.
"Speech must be responsible
to be free. There is a social and cultural necessity for freedom of
responsible speech," Toufique Imrose Khalidi said at a programme to
celebrate the Internet newspaper's fifth anniversary.
"(But)
there has to be some discipline in the way the state manages the media.
The decision makers must be guided by reason," he added at the Radisson
Blu Water Garden Hotel in Dhaka on Tuesday evening.
Besides
presenting bdnews24.com's current activities and future plans, he also
spoke about crisis and possibilities of presenting news on the Internet.
Policymakers in the government, judges, lawyers,
politicians, businessmen, entrepreneurs, poets, sportsmen, top army
officers, cultural activists — leading personalities from the entire
spectrum of society are attending the programme.
Launched
in 2006, the first online newspaper has become one of the most reliable
and authentic sources of news. Organiers say it is "a fantastic
opportunity" to reflect on bdnews24.com's role as a pioneer and
innovator.
It offers a range of real-time news coverage for
online readers replete with critical information to pick and click; it
gathers and delivers news, based on accuracy and consistency on the web
24 hours, with the highest standards of professionalism, integrity and
ethical journalism.
bdnews24.com says their newsroom never sleeps.
Readers
hit nearly 40 million times on several pages of the website every
month. The site is hit from 300,000 IP addresses daily; sometimes the
figure goes as high as 500,000.
Khalidi gave a brief glimpse of bdnews24.com's operations. Photos and videos were also shown.
A beta version of bdnews24.com was launched by legendary woman freedom fighter Khurshid Jahan Begum.
Khurshid
Jahan was one of the thousands who joined the war of independence in
1971 with a five-month infant in her arms, and 40 years on, she hit the
headlines when bdnews24.com ran a report on her on the 40th Victory Day.
Khalidi, also the managing director of the owning company,
called on authorities for "faster and cheaper Internet that almost the
rest of the world has got already".
"And we guarantee a
great rate of return on the investment. The power of Internet is such
that it can combine all attributes of all the other media.
"We have introduced some video and audio but could have done better," he added.
Referring
to the editorial gatekeeping of the online news portal that even
extends to its blogs, he said it is true that there is "certainly a
greater degree of freedom on blogs".
But Khalidi advocated for media checks and balance.
"I
am sorry I am not a great supporter of absolutely free speech as some
bloggers try to advocate," he told a select audience of public
policymakers, judges, lawyers, politicians, businessmen, entrepreneurs,
poets, sportsmen, top army officers, cultural activists.
"What
we see on blogs here in Bangladesh is the result of poor
decision-making by the powers that be at various points in our history. I
say this today because a very senior politician has recently raised
this point.
"I agree with him, but I also ask him to take
part of the collective blame for failing to behave responsibly as a
decision maker.
"I agree with this view that the dream of absolute free speech is a delusion. This is a myth no society has ever granted.
Khalidi
warned that the political class is at the risk of paying "the heaviest
price" if the "media scene continues to remain as unruly as it has been
for quite some time now".
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