Speakers at a roundtable yesterday said the media should focus on the rights of indigenous people rather than only portraying their livelihoods and cultural activities.
Journalists have to remain objective in reporting the ethnic issues and play a proactive role in bridging the gap between the media and ethnic communities for the betterment of the hill people, they said.
Management and Resources Development Initiative (MRDI) organised the roundtable on "Bridging gap between media and ethnic communities" in Rangamati with the support from the Delegation of the European Commission to Bangladesh under the project "Bridging Media and Ethnicity", says a press release.
Speaking as the chief guest, UNO of Rangamati Sadar Prakash Kanti Chowdhury said journalists would have to approach to the proper persons at the government and non-governmental levels to collect the right information and then provide them to the nation.
"It is the journalists who will identify the proper persons in order to collect the right information. Reporters of specific geographical areas need special facilities for their physical movement," he said and called on MRDI to take necessary initiatives in this regard.
Journalist Qurratul-Ain-Tahmina presented the keynote paper at the roundtable moderated by Shahana Huda, manager (Media & Communication) of Manusher Jonno Foundation.
Hasibur Rahman, executive director of MRDI, stressed better understanding of human rights of the ethnic communities through a shared upbringing so that the media can cover appropriate and accurate news in time.
The discussants also stressed the need to portray the indigenous people in the media in a proper way and promoting their human rights through objective reporting.
There are so many issues concerning their rights and the media should explore these issues, they said.
They also sought greater cooperation from the media in addressing the genuine needs of the hill people through detailed and investigative reporting.
The journalists who were present at the roundtable said they need adequate and reliable sources of information for reporting the issues of ethnic communities.
They also suggested that indigenous people should have greater representation in the media so that their issues can be properly highlighted in the media.
Twenty-two community/NGO representatives, governmental officials and journalists took part in the roundtable.