The mass media in Bangladesh refers to the print, broadcast and online
mass media
Mass media refers to a diverse array of media technologies that reach a large audience via mass communication. The technologies through which this communication takes place include a variety of outlets.
Broadcast media transmit informati ...
available in
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
. The
Constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When these princ ...
guarantees
press freedom and
freedom of expression
Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recog ...
within "reasonable restriction",
though some media outlets have been harassed.
[Country profile: Bangladesh]
BBC News Online
BBC News Online is the website of BBC News, the division of the BBC responsible for newsgathering and production. It is one of the most popular news websites, with 1.2 billion website visits in April 2021, as well as being used by 60% of the U ...
The Bangladeshi media's rank is dropped to 146 in 2018 from its position of 144 in 2016 out of total 180 countries on the
Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index, with 1st being most free.
Overview
The media in Bangladesh is a mix of
government-owned
State ownership, also called government ownership and public ownership, is the ownership of an industry, asset, or enterprise by the state or a public body representing a community, as opposed to an individual or private party. Public ownersh ...
and private media. There are still criminal penalties for
libel,
defamation and
sedition as well as reporting on national security issues.
[ Reporters can be held for up to 120 days without ]trial
In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribunal ...
under the 1974 Special Powers Act. Media restrictions have usually increased during periods of political turmoil.[ Reporters Without Borders has accused the ]army
An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...
of targeting journalists and enforcing censorship
Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...
.[
]
News agencies
News agencies
A news agency is an organization that gathers news reports and sells them to subscribing news organizations, such as newspapers, magazines and radio and television broadcasters. A news agency may also be referred to as a wire service, newswire, ...
were present in Bangladesh prior to its independence from Pakistan in 1971. The state-owned Associated Press of Pakistan
Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) ( ur, ) is a government-operated national news agency of Pakistan. APP has News Exchange Agreements with 37 Foreign News Agencies and has more than 500 correspondents.
History Lack of financial resources
Fol ...
(AAP) had branches in Dhaka
Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city i ...
and Chittagong from 1949. After independence, the AAP was replaced by the Bangladesh state-owned agency Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha
Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) is Bangladesh's national news agency and was established on January 1, 1972, by government order soon after its independence from Pakistan. Abul Kalam Azad
Abul Kalam Ghulam Muhiyuddin Ahmed bin Khairuddi ...
. The second news agency to be established, and the first to be privately owned was Eastern News Agency (ENA). It was founded in Dhaka in the years immediately prior to the Bangladesh Liberation War by a consortium of six shareholders which included its founding editor Golam Rasul Mallick. United News of Bangladesh
United News of Bangladesh (UNB) is a Bangladesh private sector news agency established in 1988. Enayetullah Khan established UNB in the 1980s. It is the first fully digitized private wire service in South Asia.
UNB has news exchange agreements w ...
, founded in 1988 was the country's first fully computerised privately owned agency. Other private news agencies include News Network of Bangladesh (NNB) and BD News 24 which also launched the country's first photo agency
Stock photography is the supply of photographs which are often licensed for specific uses. The stock photo industry, which began to gain hold in the 1920s, has established models including traditional macrostock photography, midstock photography, ...
, Focus Bangla.[Banerjee, Indrajit and Logan, Stephen (eds.) (2008)]
''Asian Communication Handbook 2008''
p. 110. Asian Media Information and Communication Centre. .
Newspapers
The print media
Mass media refers to a diverse array of media technologies that reach a large audience via mass communication. The technologies through which this communication takes place include a variety of outlets.
Broadcast media transmit informatio ...
is private and consists of hundreds of weekly publications, presenting a vast array of viewpoints, though some outspoken papers have faced pressure in the past.[ English language papers appeal to an educated urban readership.][
]
Television and radio
Television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
is the biggest medium for news in Bangladesh.[ There were 15 television stations in 1999.][Bangladesh]
CIA World Factbook In 2006, there were 15AM and 13FM radio stations
Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio sta ...
available.[ The BBC World Service broadcasts in the country, and ]India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
n and other foreign television broadcasts are picked up in the country.[ Currently there are more than 100 TV Channels in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication (BNNRC), NGO Network in Consultative Status with UN ECOSOC in considers community radio a special area for intervention. BNNRC has been promoting advocacy with the government in relation to community radio with other organizations since its emergence from 2000.
The objective of BNNRC's Community Radio intervention is to address crucial social issues at community level, such as poverty and social exclusion, empower marginalized rural groups and catalyze democratic processes and on going development efforts.
The prime role of community radio is giving voice to the voiceless people who do not have access to the mainstream media to express their ideas and views regarding community development. Promoting the right to communicate, speed up the process of informing the community, assist the free flow of information and therefore act as a catalyst of change are few major tasks are to be done by community radio. It will also uphold creative growth and democratic spirit in the community level.
As a result, the Ministry of Information of People's Republic of Bangladesh announced the Community Radio Installation, Broadcast and Operation Policy 2008. Under this policy the Ministry of Information in 2011 approved the installation, broadcast, and operation of the first 12 community radio stations in Bangladesh. By 2016, the number of active community radio stations rose to 14.]
Internet media
There are an estimated 11.4 million internet users in Bangladesh,[ and use is unrestricted by the government; however some journalist's emails have been monitored.][
People also use ]online newspapers
An online newspaper (or electronic news or electronic news publication) is the online version of a newspaper, either as a stand-alone publication or as the online version of a printed periodical.
Going online created more opportunities for newspa ...
and news portals. There are huge online newspaper and news portal in Bangladesh. However, not all news portals are listed by Bangladesh's government. Now Bangladesh government try to create memorandum for online news portal. Also some social media, such as Facebook, Twitter and OwnMirror become powerful media in Bangladesh.
See also
References
External links
Bangladeshi All Newspapers and Media List
Ministry of Information
Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission
24 Live Newspaper
Media and Telecommunications Lansdcape Guide in Bangladesh
'infoasaid'
guide, May 2012, 135 pp.
Dhaka Don Online News Portal in Bangladesh
{{DEFAULTSORT:Media Of Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...