Media must refrain from negative reporting during crisis: Shahriar

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam yesterday said the media professionals must refrain from negative reporting during humanitarian crisis and uphold professionalism in performing their responsibilities.

"We should be mindful that reporting on an emergency response is not like ordinary reporting ... a crisis situation creates specific challenges for the media professionals," he said.

The state minister was inaugurating "The Asia Media Conference-2016", jointly organized by The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Diplomatic Correspondents Association, Bangladesh (DCAB), at a city hotel.

The two-day conference brought together journalists from the 10 countries in the Asia-Pacific region to share their knowledge and thoughts to identify the humanitarian needs and challenges in this region. 

Shahriar Alam said the humanitarian issues have received special attention to all the recently-adopted global architectures, including 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. 

So, he said, the media would remain as one of the key actors in achieving these forward-looking global initiatives by providing information when populations are struggling with humanitarian crisis.

He placed emphasis on strong collaborative approach among the media professionals, aid workers and government organizations for ensuring effective media reporting on humanitarian crises and emergencies. 

In this connection, he referred to the role of foreign media personalities during the country's Great War of Liberation in 1971 when Bangladesh experienced the worst humanitarian crisis.

"It was due to their reporting and editorial comments, attention of international community could be drawn to the untold sufferings on our people. The humanitarian organizations around the world responded to the appeal for emergency humanitarian need in Bangladesh," he mentioned.

Chairman of Bangladesh Red Crescent Society Hafiz Ahmed Majumder, Head of Delegation of ICRC Ikhtiyar Aslanov, Regional Public Relations Adviser of ICRC Ms. Graziella Piccoli and DCAB President Angur Nahar Monty spoke at the inaugural session with Head of Communication of ICRC Omarsharif Ghyasy in the chair. 

Later, two panel discussions and separate question-answer sessions were held on different topics of reporting during humanitarian crisis.

Ms. Jyoti Malhotra, Ms. Nithinand and Nizamuddin Hamidi took part in the first panel discussion on "The Challenges to Responsible and Humanitarian Journalism" with Brian John Thomson in the chair. 

Besides, Brian John Thomson Dewan Rai and Humayun Kabir Bhuiyan discussed the issue of "The Threats and Opportunities in the Age of New Media and Innovation" with Toufique Imrose Khalidi in the chair.

Eminent media personalities Irwan Nugroho, Myo Tha Htet, Prasad Dodangodage, Anis Alamgir, Rowena Paraan, Ms. Xingmei Zhong and Hartosh Singh Bal also interacted and shared their professional experiences with the audiences.

The session was concluded this afternoon with the remarks of DCAB General Secretary Pantho Rahman and ICRC Deputy Head of Mission Boris Kelecevic.

Source: BSS