Media, armed forces need closer relations: Experts
Speakers at a seminar yesterday stressed the need for building the nation by bridging the distance between the country's media and the armed forces through an interactive relationship.
Despite visible dissimilarities, the two organs share many things in common -- both were born in the battlefield during the country's Liberation War and they serve in the national interest, they said.
National Defence College (NDC) organised the seminar titled “Media and Armed Forces - Perception and Reality: Bangladesh Perspective”, at its auditorium in the capital's Mirpur Cantonment.
Inaugurating the seminar, NDC Commandant Lt Gen Chowdhury Hasan Sarwardy said although there are numerous differences between the media and the armed forces, both share many common traits.
“Bridging distance between them has to be done through common understanding and trust,” he said, proposing that a diploma course can be initiated on “military journalism and wartime reporting”.
A nominated four-member group of Armed Forces War Course 2017 presented a keynote paper on the topic. Three more keynote papers shedding light on the chronology of the relationship between the media and the armed forces were presented by The Daily Star Associate Editor Brig Gen (retd) Shahedul Anam Khan, Maj Gen Md Sarwar Hossain and media personality Farzana Rashid Brownia.
Presenting his keynote paper, Brig Gen (retd) Shahedul Anam Khan said the relationship between the media and armed forces has evolved over the years and reached a position that could be termed as “adversarial, uneasy and dysfunctional”.
Both the organs are driven by loyalty; and mutual acknowledgment between them is required for building the bridge, he added.
Speaking as the chief guest, Chief Information Commissioner Prof Golam Rahman said the armed forces are the country's pride and it has a positive image before the countrymen... Journalists should enjoy their freedom to contribute in building the nation because “without information there is a scope of starting a rumour”.
Moderating the seminar, Air Vice-Marshal M Sanaul Huq, a faculty of the NDC, said the relationship between the media and the armed forces is tantamount to a joint operation and the key to a successful relationship lies in respect and understanding for each other.
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