Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen has said through misquoting him journalists have tried to make the US Bangladesh’s enemy.
“A total of 17 media outlets including print, electronic and online ones published headlines saying that I had mentioned the USA as a war-mongering country, which I didn’t say. The headings had no connection with what I had actually said. I think our journalists have weaknesses in them and I’ll be happy if they focus on gaining maturity,” Momen said.
The foreign minister made the remarks after paying homage to the grave of Father of The Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at Tungipara on Saturday noon, UNB reported.
“Through misrepresenting the facts, our journalists have tried to make the US our enemy. Either these journalists didn’t know Bangla properly, or they have done this for specific reasons. They need to do research on why such low-quality journalism prevails in the country,” Momen added.
He said he thinks the journalists of the country have weaknesses in them and they need more maturity while writing and publishing news.
Momen said that the headlines of the reports were false, fabricated and imaginary.
The Minister further said that the country’s journalism doesn’t have standards and the journalists lack moral and ethical values which were present in the past.
“It’s a shame for those journalists who wrote those false stories. It’s a thing to be sorry about,” Momen said.
On October 26, Momen was reportedly misquoted by some media outlets after he spoke at the seminar "Sheikh Hasina at the United Nations" organised by the Progressive Columnist Forum of Bangladesh at the Jatiya Press Club in the capital.
Later, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) issued a rejoinder, saying that misleading and baseless news quoting Foreign Minister Momen sent a wrong message to the people and the government of the US.