Should media blackout news on hartal?
The BNP called a hartal in protest against the division of Dhaka city. Hartals have never achieved any positive results except making the poor poorer, damaging business and the national economy. I am rather surprised that the press supported them by publishing reports on the hartal.
Last year Sir Frank Peters posed a very interesting question when he asked what would happen if a hartal were announced but the media ignored it and gave it no coverage whatsoever? Without the media coverage, chances are that only a few people would know about it and even less would attend.
I am so fed up with hartals that I would not mind a media blackout on all hartals, before, during and after. We should also be mindful of the fact that less newspapers are sold on days of hartals because most newspapers are bought on the way to or from work. The media should think about it.
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