Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) has called for releasing the draft amendment to the Bangladesh Press Council Act in public.
At the same time, it in a statement urged for taking the opinions from the concerned stakeholders like media and media workers for the draft amendment of the law in line with the current practice and norm.
Earlier on Saturday, raising concern over an amendment to the Bangladesh Press Council Act-2022, the Sampadak Parishad had demanded that the draft be published on its website.
Citing some news reports, TIB Executive Director Dr Iftekharuzzaman said before enacting and amending any law, publishing its draft in public and gathering the opinions from the concerned stakeholders is one of the prerequisites of a fair democratic process.
The practice is now being followed in almost all the laws made recently in the country, he argued.
People have seen that efforts to draft an amendment to the existing law to strengthen the Bangladesh Press Council have been ongoing for several years, Dr Iftekharuzzaman mentioned.
But in addition to keeping the draft of this law unpublished, the press council has also expressed its inability to take opinion from the stakeholders, especially the Sampadak Parishad and various journalist organisations, Dr Zaman says.
Since the law directly involves the interests of the media and media workers, freedom and ethics related to free media, it is vitally required to inform these stakeholders at each step of the amendment of the law as well as adjust it after taking opinions, he pointed out.
Dr. Zaman also said since 2008, the government has been publishing different draft laws for the public interest for reviewing, gathering opinions and informing the various laws in Bangladesh.
When this practice is seen as a strong example of democratic process in all legislations, the question arises - why the draft amendments to the Press Council Act should not be released publicly, he questioned.
Through this practice of secrecy, a precedent of arbitrariness has been created by ignoring the conventional norms of the law-enactment and amendment process of the country, the statement explained.
Also, it is logical to raise the question whether the Press Council is resorting to this secrecy for the purpose of controlling the media and journalists rather than protecting their interests and freedom, it stated.
Dr Zaman hopes that the Press Council would take the necessary initiative to release the draft law online while showing its respect to the prevailing practice of the country.
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