Monday, January 21, 2008

Seven-member committee formed to review 6th Wage Board

Dhaka, Jan 21 (UNB) - The government has formed a seven-member committee to review the recently approved 6th Wage Board Award for the media industry to remove discrepancies in wages and allowances of journalists and press workers.

The government approved the final recommendations of the 6th Wage Board Award relating to salaries, allowances and other benefits for the journalists, employees and press workers on December 6, 2007.

An official announcement said today (Monday), the committee will review the 6th Wage Board Award and put forward recommendations to the government to remove the discrepancies in the wages and allowances, if any.

The committee, headed by Acting Law Secretary Kazi Habibul Awal, would submit its report to the government within a month.

The other members of the committee are Daily Jugantor Editor Golam Sarwar, Daily Prothom Alo Editor Motiur Rahman, Monjurul Ahsan Bulbul of Sangbadik-Sramik-Karmachari Oikya Parishad, Ruhul Amin Gazi of the parishad, senior Deputy Chief Information Officer M Joynal Abedin and Deputy Secretary of Information Department Khurshid Alam (member secretary).

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Thursday, January 17, 2008

Media should reflect issues related to poverty cut

Media Report

Issues relating to poverty reduction should be prominently reflected in the media to create platforms for debates leading to formulation of pro-poor policies, said the media and development experts at a discussion on Tuesday.

The government, civil societies and the international donors have to facilitate this process in a bid to reduce global poverty, they said at the programme organised by Panos Institute Bangladesh at Brac Centre Inn in the city.

“Communication is vital to public awareness and participation, yet media is neglected,” said Jon Barnes, head of Globalisation Programme of Panos Institute London, while presenting a report titled “Making poverty the story: Time to involve the media in poverty reduction”.

Most media however often do not see poverty issues as newsworthy, while public affairs coverage is focused on elite politics and there are pressures of advertisements for revenue that squeeze editorial space, he said.

Journalists are also underpaid, while there is lack of time for story researches, Jon Barnes said, adding that there is also journalists’ lacking in understanding the complex issues.

Demanding more strategic support for media, he said public policies and an enabling environment should be created for media through supportive media legislation and independent media regulation bodies.

“Besides mainstream media, alternative media, such as community radio and the needs of local journalists should also be seriously considered,” he said.

Moderating the discussion, Panos South Asia Representative SM Mayeen Ahmed said information for the poor and of the poor is not truly highlighted in the media.

“We want the voices of the voiceless to be reflected,” he added.

He said the participation of media was not actively considered in preparing the document of PRSP (Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper).

“We need budget for media to disseminating information to the poor,” he added.

“I have not seen enough investigative reports on poverty issues,” said Planning Commission Joint Chief Dr M Golam Sarwar.

“As a society our tolerance to poverty probably is too high,” he added.

Dr Sarwar said the second PRSP for 2008-2011 will be prepared by June-July this year, but it will not be possible to go out of Dhaka for consulting grassroots people because of the present nature of the government.

The New Nation Editor Mostafa Kamal Majumder said journalists face difficulties in getting information from the government officials for their secretive nature, while the NGOs want the media to carry only their messages.

When the state-owned media cover only event-based news, the private news organisations are sponsored by politicians, businessmen and even NGOs, he said, adding that an environment should be created in media for balanced reports.

“NGOs and civil society organisations should understand the working conditions of the journalists and prepare materials accordingly in time with due contexts,” he said.

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Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Four Advisors resign in major shakeup in caretaker govt


Dhaka, Jan 8 (UNB) - In a dramatic development in the interim administration of the country, four Advisors of the caretaker government resigned today (Tuesday).
 
Law and Information Advisor Barrister Mainul Hosein, Energy Advisor Tapan Chowdhury, Health and Family Welfare Advisor Major General (retd) Dr. ASM Matiur Rahman and Industry Advisor Geeteara Safiya Chowdhury stood down in the afternoon in a major shakeup in the nearly one-year-old caretaker government.
  
Barrister Mainul and Tapan Chowdhury told reporters that they tendered their resignation from the Council of Advisors, “as the government desired”.
 
They met with Chief Advisor Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed and submitted their resignation letters-several days into speculations about the changes.
 
With their exit, a total of five resignations from the council took place. Earlier, Education Advisor Dr Ayub Quadri resigned in the wake of Paris-bound artefact scandal on December 26.
 
The latest resignations came on the eve of Fakhruddin Ahmed’s military-backed government’s completion of one year in office since it was installed amid a political crisis over general election in January last year.
 
The incumbent caretaker government assumed office on January 12 under the state of emergency imposed a day before to quell political unrest over the abortive parliamentary elections.
 
It succeeded a short-lived caretaker government headed by President Prof Iajuddin Ahmed, which was formed as two rival political camps had failed to make a consensus choice for the office of Chief Advisor as per constitutional provision.

 

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Journalist Deaths Highest Since 1994: Iraq, Somalia drive the 2007 toll to 65


New York, January 2, 2008—Sixty-five journalists were killed in direct relation to their work in 2007, the highest death toll in more than a decade, the Committee to Protect Journalists said in a year-end report. For the fifth straight year, Iraq was the world’s deadliest country for the press. Its 32 victims accounted for nearly half of the 2007 toll. Somalia was the second-deadliest country, with seven journalist deaths.
  
CPJ, founded in 1981, compiles and analyzes journalist deaths each year. The 2007 toll is second only to that of 1994, when 66 journalists were killed amid conflicts in Algeria, Bosnia, and Rwanda. CPJ is investigating another 23 journalist deaths in 2007 to determine whether they were work-related.
  
Consistent with previous years, about seven in 10 journalist deaths in 2007 were murders. Combat-related deaths and deaths in dangerous assignments accounted for the rest of the cases.
  
A list of journalists killed for their work in 2007, with reporting on each case, is available online. Also online are capsules for the cases that CPJ is still investigating, and capsules for media worker deaths.
  
http://cpj.org/Briefings/2007/killed_07/killed.html
 
Journalist Deaths Hit Decade Peak
 Half in Iraq; record number in Somalia
 
 
New York, December 18, 2007—Journalists were killed in unusually high numbers in 2007, making it the deadliest year for the press in more than a decade, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists’ end-of-year analysis. Worldwide, CPJ found 64 journalists were killed in direct connection to their work in 2007—up from 56 last year—and it is investigating another 22 deaths to determine whether they were work-related. CPJ has recorded only one year with a higher death toll: 1994, when 66 journalists were killed, many in conflicts in Algeria, Bosnia, and Rwanda.
 
or the fifth straight year, Iraq was the deadliest country in the world for the press. Its 31 victims account for nearly half of the 2007 toll. Most of the victims were targeted and murdered, such as Washington Post reporter Salih Saif Aldin, who died in Baghdad from a single gunshot wound to the head. In all, 24 deaths in Iraq were murders and seven occurred in combat-related crossfire.
  
Unidentified gunmen, suicide bombers, and U.S. military activity all posed fatal risks for Iraqi journalists. All but one of 31 journalists killed were Iraqi nationals. They worked mainly for local media, although nine worked for international news organizations such as The New York Times, ABC News, Reuters, and The Associated Press. The 2007 toll in Iraq is consistent with that of 2006, when 32 journalists died.
 
“Working as a journalist in Iraq remains one of the most dangerous jobs on the planet,” said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon. “Members of the press are being hunted down and murdered with alarming regularity. They are abducted at gunpoint and found dead later or shot dead on the spot. Those who die are nearly always Iraqi and many work for international news agencies. These journalists gave their lives so that all of us could be informed about what is happening in Iraq.”
 
Twelve media support workers, such as bodyguards and drivers, also died in Iraq. Since the beginning of the war in March 2003, 124 journalists and 49 media workers have been killed, making it the deadliest conflict for the press in recent history. More than one-third worked for international news organizations.
 
Somalia was the second-deadliest country for the media in 2007, with seven journalist deaths. “Horrific violence in Iraq overshadowed the increasingly deteriorating environment for the media in Somalia,” said Simon. “Journalists reporting in Somalia face great risks every day.”
 
Included in the seven deaths in Somalia are the back-to-back assassinations of two prominent journalists. Mahad Ahmed Elmi, director of Capital Voice radio in Mogadishu, died after being shot four times in the head. Hours later, a remotely detonated landmine took the life of HornAfrik Media co-owner Ali Iman Sharmarke as he left Elmi’s funeral.
  
Deaths spiked in Africa overall, from two in 2006 to 10 this year. Two journalists died in Eritrea and one in Zimbabwe in 2007.
  
Beneath the terrible numbers, CPJ documented some positive developments: There were no murders of journalists in Colombia this year for the first time in more than 15 years. For the first time since 1999, there were no work-related deaths of Philippine journalists.
 
Murder is the leading cause of work-related deaths for journalists worldwide. Consistent with previous years, about seven in 10 journalist deaths in 2007 were murders. (Combat-related deaths and deaths in dangerous assignments account for the rest.) CPJ announced a global campaign against impunity in November to seek justice in journalist murders. The campaign focuses on the Philippines and Russia, two of the deadliest countries for the press over the past 15 years.
 
Despite recent convictions in both countries, the impunity rate in each remains at about 90 percent. “Unsolved killings spread fear and self-censorship, crippling the work of the media,” said Simon. “We need to break the cycle by bringing the killers of journalists to justice.”
 
In every region of the world, journalists who produced critical reporting or covered sensitive stories were silenced. In both Pakistan and Sri Lanka, five journalists were killed for their work. Suicide bombers caused three of the five deaths in Pakistan, including the death of Muhammad Arif of ARY One World TV, who was among the 139 people killed when bombs exploded during the homecoming of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. In Sri Lanka, air force fighter jets bombed the Voice of Tigers radio station, killing three employees. One slaying occurred in the United States, where a masked gunman shot Oakland Post Editor-in-Chief Chauncey Bailey as he walked to work. Police moved quickly to apprehend the suspected gunman.
 
Millions of people around the globe watched the apparently deliberate murder of Japanese photographer Kenji Nagai by Burmese troops during the crackdown on antigovernment demonstrators in Rangoon. No apparent moves have been made to bring his killer to justice.
 
The assassination of Turkish-Armenian editor Hrant Dink outside his newspaper office in Istanbul sent shock waves through the Turkish press and the international community. In Kyrgyzstan, ethnic Uzbek independent journalist Alisher Saipov was shot and killed at close range, and in Peru, popular radio commentator Miguel Pérez Julca was gunned down in front of his family.
 
Nepal, the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Haiti, Honduras, and Russia also made the list of places with journalist fatalities this year. Five journalists are classified as missing, three of them in Mexico.
  
Media support workers are increasingly at risk, CPJ research shows. For the first time, CPJ has compiled a list of media worker deaths. Worldwide, 20 translators, fixers, guards, and drivers were killed in 2007. The victims include three Mexican newspaper delivery workers slain by drug traffickers seeking to silence their employer.
 
CPJ, founded in 1981, compiles and analyzes journalist deaths each year. CPJ staff applies strict criteria for each entry on the annual killed list; researchers independently investigate and verify the circumstances behind each death. CPJ considers a case work-related only when its staff is reasonably certain that a journalist was killed in direct reprisal for his or her work; in crossfire; or while carrying out a dangerous assignment.
  
If the motives in a killing are unclear, but it is possible that a journalist died in direct relation to his or her work, CPJ classifies the case as “unconfirmed” and continues to investigate. CPJ’s list does not include journalists who died from illness or were killed in accidents—such as car or plane crashes—unless the crash was caused by hostile action. Other press organizations using different criteria cite higher numbers of deaths than CPJ.
 
A preliminary list of journalists killed for their work in 2007, with reporting on each case, is available online. Also online are capsules for the unconfirmed cases that CPJ is still investigating, and capsules for media worker deaths. A final list of journalists killed in 2007 will be released on January 2, 2008.


http://cpj.org/Briefings/2007/killed_07/killed_07.html

 
 

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