Media Employees Bill: JS committee to sit with stakeholders
The parliamentary standing committee on information ministry will sit with stakeholders before finalising the much debated "Mass Media Employees (Services Conditions) Bill 2022".
Hasanul Haq Inu, chairman of the parliamentary watchdog, told this to The Daily Star yesterday, after emerging from the committee's meeting at Jatiya Sangsad.
Information Minister Hasan Mahmud placed the bill in parliament on March 28. It was later sent to the committee for scrutiny.
Various journalist organisations and owners' associations as well as Transparency International Bangladesh have seriously opposed various sections of the proposed law.
Inu said, "Journalist leaders have already talked to me about the bill. But I have requested them to place their proposal before the committee in written form."
He said the committee would hold meetings with Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists, Dhaka Union of Journalists, Newspaper Owners' Association of Bangladesh, Association of Television Channel Owners and newspaper employees' association.
He also said there may be a meeting with Dhaka Reporters Unity.
The Editors' Council (Sampadak Parishad) in a statement on April 19 said the space for independent media will shrink further if the bill is passed.
DRAFT POLICY ON OTT
The parliamentary watchdog yesterday instructed the ministry to submit a detailed report on the views of stakeholders about the draft over-the-top (OTT) policy.
BTRC released "Regulation for Digital, Social Media and OTT Platforms" in February.
Different rights organisations and activists expressed deep concern over the draft policy, saying that Bangladesh might become a "surveillance-based" country.
With Inu in the chair, the meeting was attended, among others, by Hasan Mahmud, and lawmakers Simeen Hussain (Rimi), Murad Hasan and Khandaker Mamata Hena Lovely.
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