Media can help roll back poverty
The media should focus on pockets of poverty and go for more in-depth, investigative reports on the issue in a bid to alleviate extreme poverty in the country. Such was the consensus emerging at a roundtable yesterday.
Although both the print and electronic media have dwelt much on this issue, it is not adequate, they said. In their view, leading personalities in the media should, given the gravity of the issue, provide more space and time to poverty-related reports.
The daily Prothom Alo, in association with Brac Advocacy for Social Change, organised the roundtable, on "Role of mass media in alleviating extreme poverty", at its Karwan Bazar office. Senior journalists and civil society members took part in the discussion.
Stressing the need for bringing about a qualitative change in the contents presented by the mass media, the speakers said that the media should project the success stories of those people who have freed themselves from the vicious cycle of poverty through their own innovative efforts.
“The media can inform the poor about their rights and at the same time put pressure on the government to ensure these rights,” said Matiur Rahman Chowdhury, editor-in-chief of daily Manabzamin.
He stated that the electronic media with its large exposure and impact had a big role to play in addressing poverty.
Speaking of the need for a political decision in eradicating poverty, he said a healthy economy was not possible without a healthy state of politics.
MM Akash, professor of economics at Dhaka University, noted that the media could zoom in on poverty pockets, including those in the remote and less developed haor areas and hill regions, and thus project the miseries of the people to help policymakers take necessary steps toward handling the issue.
He said the media had an important role to play in exposing those who embezzled the money given by the state to the poor.
Manjurul Ahsan Bulbul, editor-in-chief and CEO of Boishakhi Television, said the media did not work on poverty issues with proper planning as the priority of the media changed frequently and political priorities dominated all other issues.
Media people alone did not set their agenda and priorities, he said. He thought there was a need for united efforts from civil society, the media and the government in addressing the issue.
AP Bureau Chief Farid Hossain said extreme poverty was being considered as a soft issue in the media and therefore whatever the media were doing about it was not good enough.
Speaking on the need for a specialised television channel, Shykh Seraj, director and head of news of Channel i, said such a channel would help eliminate poverty.
Rasheda K Choudhury, executive director of Campaign for Popular Education, was of the view that news regarding women's poverty was not being effectively projected in the media in the way that repression against women was being emphasised.
The second channel of state-run BTV could be used in the task of eliminating poverty, she observed.
Information Minister Abul Kalam Azad informed the roundtable that the government had been working to alleviate poverty by giving it the utmost priority. But he made it clear that it was not possible for the government to do the job alone.
Noted economist Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad said education and vocational training are the best ways to eradicate poverty rapidly and in a sustainable way.
Prothom Alo Editor and Publisher Matiur Rahman, The News Today Editor Reaz Uddin Ahmed, Brac Executive Director Mahbub Hossain, Prothom Alo Joint Editor Abdul Qaiyum and Deputy Editor Anisul Huq, and ATN Bangla Head of News J E Mamun also spoke at the roundtable.
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