He informed this while addressing the annual general meeting of Dhaka Union of Journalists (DUJ) at the Jatiya Press Club.
About the inclusion of electronic media under the wage board, the minister said it was introduced only for print media as per a law passed in parliament.
“All media employees, including those in the electronic media, will be brought under legal protection through the Mass Media Employees Bill,” he said.
Media employees are not workers in any way and it has been resolved in the new law, Hasan Mahmud said.
Talking about the job security of media people, he said if anyone is to be sacked, that should be done following the law. “The state doesn’t allow the owners to dismiss any employee, who worked for years, overnight. I’d request the owners not to sack any of employees this way, because a journalist in distress is not expected.”
President of Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ) Molla Jalal and its Secretary General Shaban Mahmud also spoke at the programme with DUJ President Abu Jafar Surjo in the chair.
On October 15, 2018, the Cabinet cleared the draft ‘Mass Media Employees Act (Conditions of Service)’ at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at the Secretariat.