‘Be careful not to glorify terrorists’
Top police officials yesterday urged the media to be careful in their coverage of terrorism, so that terrorists are not even inadvertently portrayed as heroes.
“Terrorists’ motive is to intimidate people and force their wrong ideologies upon them by acts of terror. If the media broadcasts those heinous acts, the terrorists may become heroes to certain people,” said Asaduzzaman Mia, commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP).
He was speaking at a workshop on “Reporting on terrorism” at the Cirdap auditorium, organised by Crime Reporters’ Association of Bangladesh (CRAB) and DMP’s Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit.
“Reporters should focus more on portraying how harmful such acts are for the society,” he added.
“Media should avoid language that glorifies terrorists, and rather focus on the ordeal of victims of the terror attack and their families,” Monirul Islam, chief of CTTC unit, said.
Asaduzzaman said imposing censorship on journalists by ministry of information or home is illogical, but added that journalists should practice restraint while covering terrorist incidents or anti-terror drives.
Citing examples from different countries, the DMP commissioner said live coverage during an anti-terror operation can sometimes help terrorists make their plans afresh.
“One or two incidents take place and come to light. But 98 percent of (terror) incidents are not taking place due to our continuous intelligence-based drives and frequent identification and arrest of the terrorists,” he added.
There have been no major terror attacks since the Holey Artisan massacre in 2016 as a result of dedicated and skilled officers, the commissioner said. He lauded the Bangladeshi media for raising public awareness against militancy after the attack that left 20 hostages and two police officers killed.
Zayadul Ahsan Pintu, editor of private TV channel DBC News, said journalists have to inform people what’s happening but should also keep the interest of the country in mind, especially when covering terrorism.
CRAB General Secretary Dipu Sarwar, among others, also spoke.
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