"I am in favour of adding a punitive provision to the act to make it effective and to strengthen the council," said Justice Abu Sayeed Ahammed, chairman of the Press Council, who placed the annual press council report for the year 2004 in parliament on November 22. Justice Ahammed also said the Press Council Act 1974 should also have some "executive power" so that the council can force anyone to comply with the law and ensure punishment to violators. Rising on a point of order in parliament a member suggested that a new law should be enacted to bring newspapers and journalists under speedy trial and facilitate summary punishment for publishing objectionable reports.

The finance and planning minister M Saifur Rahman -- noted for media bashing in recent days -- blasted the national newspapers for publishing "false news" and thus tarnishing the country's image abroad. He also branded the local media as the "worst enemy of the country" for projecting only negative image. On March, he told a seminar that some 100 to 150

newspapers caused maximum damage to the country. Not the finance minister alone, some other ministers like Matiur Rahman Nizami, Barrister Moudud Ahmed, and Barrister Nazmul Huda hardly miss any opportunity of bashing the journalists. Moudud Ahmed termed the freedom of press as "freedom to lie" and Nazmul Huda on October 21, 2004, publicly said that journalists should be brought under the purview of Rab operations for their information terrorism. Matiur Rahman Nizami described journalists as terrorists

and blamed the media as the cause of militancy.

Now the question is, why the ministers are so much angry with the media. Mahfuz Anam -- editor of The Daily Star -- has very meticulously pointed out the logic behind this in his commentary titled: "Media: Whipping boy of every unsuccessful government," published on October 17. "Ironically both M Saifur Rahman and Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan are singing the same song that some Awami League leaders sang during the last year of their tenure. At that time we were the favourites of these two leaders. This writer recalls how repeatedly, warmly and enthusiastically Mr. Rahman would congratulate The Daily Star for its bold and uncompromising expose of AL misdeeds. Well, they were opposition leaders then and are ministers now, on the buttered side of the bread, so to speak," the commentary reads.

Bangladesh has been ranked 151st out of 167 countries in the global press freedom index by the Paris-based global media watchdog, Reporters Without Borders. The position of Bangladesh is at the bottom in South Asia, worse than India (ranking 106) and Pakistan (ranking 150). Even the poor African country Chad -- that shared corruption championship with Bangladesh this year according to Transparency International -- was ranked 109th in the index. Many countries that have been under the dictatorial rule for years also have been placed above Bangladesh in the press freedom index.

The annual report 2005 on Bangladesh by the Reporters Without Borders said: "Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's ruling alliance of conservative and Islamist parties, which has been in power since October 2001, displayed criminal ill-will in refusing to acknowledge human rights violations, including press freedom violations. The prime minister said in March she did not want to silence journalists but press freedom could not be used to cause unrest or write libellous articles. Her ministers were deployed throughout the year to remind the media of their patriotic duty and accuse the independent press of every kind of vice."

The report also contained the personal account of an ill-fated Bangladeshi journalist who was forced to go into exile after his family was threatened by the security forces. The statistics cited in the annual report of the Reporters Without Borders revealed a very grim state of press freedom in Bangladesh. According to the report, four journalists were killed, 96 were physically attacked, 9 were arrested, 175 were threatened and 9 media premises were ransacked in Bangladesh in the year 2004. On the other hand, one journalist was killed and 23 others were physically attacked in India while only 1 journalist was killed and 19 were physically attacked in Pakistan during the period.

The Economist -- one of the most widely circulated weekly across the world -- published an article titled "Bangladesh: State of Denial" in its June 18 issue along with a caricature of Begum Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina, depicting a brawl between them. "Bangladesh is also among the most sparsely covered by the international press. This is in part the government's choice: it makes it hard for foreign journalists to visit. When they do, it tends not to like what they write, especially recent suggestions that Bangladesh is witnessing a rise in Islamic extremism, and becoming a haven for international terrorists," the article read.

The journalists of the country have become the "worst enemy" for publishing news of the presidential pardon granted to a person who was convicted for a double murder only because the convict happens to be a ruling party man. The newspapers reported the price hike of essential commodities and the eventual denial of such realities by the commerce minister as well as by the prime minister. The newspapers also reported the persecution of Ahmadiyya community by an Islamic extremist group. These are the truths the government cannot really escape.

It is very unfortunate that most of our ministers foster an attitude that the journalists are, for all manner of ills, always out to destroy the image of the country by publishing false news. It would be sheer reverie for those ministers who expect that the journalists would always laud the government ignoring the sanctity of journalistic ethics to uphold the truth. The ministers with important portfolios who have failed to perform satisfactorily have now chosen to blame the media for their own loss of status. The poor journalists, who do not lack in patriotism, are not to be blamed for any damage to the country's image.

The Emperor Napoleon termed newspapers as a great power. "Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter," said US president Thomas Jefferson two centuries back. The power of press has not been demolished but increased many fold over the years. Media plays a vital role in improving the system of governance instead of "damaging" the country's image, the speakers observed at a seminar co-organised by South Asia Free Media Association and the Massline Media Centre to mark the World Press Freedom Day 2005.

"In all the countries where democracy is in practice, the freedom of different news media is recognised constitutionally. We should value the constitutionally guaranteed provisions of almost all democratic countries of the world since the constitutions of those countries provide for freedom of speech, freedom of press and freedom of thought, which are pre-conditions of Rule of Law and human rights which are inborn demands of the people at large," wrote Justice Abu Sayeed Ahammed, the chairman of Bangladesh Press Council, in an article titled "Newspapers Mirror the Society" published in The News Today on October 3. Now he is suggesting punitive provisions in the Press Council Act.

Meanwhile, the country's eminent journalists, including the leaders of the Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists, have strongly criticised the move to enact a law aimed at controlling journalists and the media. The civil society members should also join the journalists to resist the predators of press freedom.