e_Paper, Wednesday, May 3, 2017

2
WEDNESDAY, MAY 3, 2017
DT
News
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY
The sound of silence
Journalists face restrictive access to government buildings
• Bilkis Irani
Over the past few years, several
government and constitutional
bodies have become increasingly
hostile to journalists using tactics
such as cutting off access to their
buildings, circulating internal
memos about severe punishment
for employees who speak to journalists
unsupervised.
The offices of Election Commission
Secretariat (EC), Chittagong
City Corporation(CCC), Anti-Corruption
Commission (ACC), Bangladesh
Bank (BB) and Dhaka Medical
College Hospital (DMCH) have
been found to severely restrict access
to journalists recently citing
security reasons.
According to a Ain O Salish Kendra
(ASK) report, 117 journalists
were assaulted last year by members
of law enforcement agencies, political
henchmen, officials of both government
and private organisations.
Although the Fourth Estate plays
a crucial role in upholding the accountability
of the elected offices
and has a responsibility to the public
to inform them of work, the good
and bad, journalists are increasingly
viewed with suspicion and harassed
when they try to do their jobs.
This right to freedom of thought
and expression is enshrined in the
Constitution in Article 39 that also
guarantees the freedom of press
and is aided by laws such as the
Right to Information Act 2009 that
allows citizens to demand information
from public institutions.
“Every citizen has a right to information
from the Authority and
the Authority shall on demand
from a citizen be bound to provide
information,” the Right to Information
Act 2009 clearly states.
It also imposes financial penalties
under Section 6 (b) of up to Tk5,000
for officials who do not cooperate
with the information seeker.
In 2015, Chittagong City Corporation
circulated an internal memo
that was approved by the mayor
saying: “Employees talking to the
media unsupervised will be subject
to strict actions taken against
them.” The memo also stated that
it was against the CCC’s rules and
regulations to speak to members of
the media although it is obligated
to do so under the Right to Information
Act.
EC officials must understand that transparency
is a good thing, we understand not everything
can be disclosed for the sake of national
security, we are not asking them of such things
The tactics used to prevent press
freedom
The Election Commission on April
11 cut off journalists’ access to the
building except for a media briefing
room.
The commission cites “security
reasons” for this blockade with restricted
or no access to the EC Secretariat.
But press freedom is subtly attacked
by these institutions such
as on April 17, a scuffle broke out
in front of the EC office when journalists
were barred by the guards
at the gate and the situation escalated
to a physical confrontation
between the two groups.
Office Assistant Md Masud physically
assaulted reporters and Chief
Election Commissioner KM Nurul
Huda, four commissioners and EC
Secretary Mohammad Abdullah
were all present at their offices in
the building but no action was taken
against the office assistant after
the incident.
“This is an attack on journalism,”
opined columnist Sayad Abul
Maksud, adding: “Journalists provide
information to people and
preventing them means interfering
with people’s right to information,
which is illegal.”
BIGSTOCK
In response to the situation,
Secretary to the EC Mohammad
Abdullah told the Dhaka Tribune:
“Journalists are only allowed to
enter my office and the public relation
officer’s office.”
“EC officials must understand
that transparency is a good thing,
we understand not everything can
be disclosed for the sake of national
security, we are not asking them of
such things,” said Md Sazzad Hussain,
vice-chairman of Reporters
Forum for Election and Democracy.
When asked about the increasing
difficulty journalists face trying
to enter the EC building, Information
Commissioner Golam Rahman
told the Dhaka Tribune: “If the EC
needs security, then they are well
within their rights to curb access. It
is however illegal for them to withhold
access to information.”
Investigative journalist of Samakal,
Shahadat Hossain Poros said
press freedom is severely limited
as journalists are usually unable to
speak to officials to verify a story
and hence the story looses its importance.
He said: “Collecting daily news
is sometimes a hassle as there is a
‘permission and invitation’ system
that exists that prevents the availability
of information or the collection
of data for public interest.
“Some things that are of public
interest go unreported because of
this and people are deliberately deprived
of information and news.”
Executive Director of Transparency
International Bangladesh
(TIB) Dr Iftekharuzzaman said it is
easy to hide corruption if there is
no journalists around.
“There is a common practice to
shoot the messenger, that is to say
journalists who expose corruption
get prosecuted instead of the officials
guilty of the corruption. This
system has to change as corrupt
individuals are the enemy of institutions.
“It is a constitutional responsibility
of these government bodies
to create a working environment
for journalists. The situation at
the EC is unacceptable where they
have used ‘security measure’ to
ban the media from the building.”
After the infamous Bangladesh
Bank cyber heist last year, the new
Governor of the bank, Fazle Kabir,
restricted access to journalists
within the building.
Similarly, this practice has been
going on at the Anti-Corruption
Commission since 2012 when they
imposed an unofficial ban on journalists
entering the building on
June 28. In 2013, they restricted
journalists from entering the building
before 3pm.
Information Minister Hasanul
Haque Inu gave a measured response
to the questions posed by
the Dhaka Tribune, saying: “Institutions
have a right to secure their
premises. They should however
have a spokesperson who can give
journalists the information. If they
are denied that information, then
they can complain to the information
commissioner and appropriate
actions will be taken.”
In 2013, when a patient was assaulted
by a DMCH doctor, interns
at the hospital assaulted journalists
when they tried to report the news.
Journalists eventually got banned
by the hospital authorities from
entering the hospital building.
The Dhaka Tribune reached out
to both the ACC and Bangladesh
Bank for comments but they did
not respond. •