Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ) Secretary General Kader Gani Chowdhury on Thursday said the core principle of journalism is never to compromise with falsehood.

“Journalism rests on three pillars—honesty, accuracy and impartiality. Honesty means practicing journalism with integrity, accuracy means ensuring information is correct, and impartiality means fairness is essential,” he said.

He was addressing a discussion organised by Bangladesh Journalists Development Association at Tofazzal Hossain Manik Miah Hall of the Jatiya Press Club in the morning.

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Kader said journalism is one of the vital senses of the state through which people get the right perception of governance.

“Media plays the role of watchdog in ensuring good governance. That’s why the press is called the mirror of society,” he added.

He stressed that journalists must collect facts and present them in an objective and unbiased manner.

“That is why journalists are called the watchdog of society. Journalism must be entirely truthful. It cannot be a mix of half-truths and lies. Calling white ‘white’ and black ‘black’ is journalism,” he said.

The BFUJ leader observed that freedom of the press requires journalists’ fighting spirit, institutional strength in media and democratic governance.

“These three are seriously lacking in Bangladesh. Today’s journalists lack fighting spirit. Instead, partisan journalism has taken over. Earlier journalists pursued truth, now many pursue money,” he said.

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He also criticised some owners for using media outlets as shields for their business and political interests, saying such practices undermine impartial journalism.

The discussion was presided over by the organisation’s chairman Manunur Rashid Sain and moderated by Kamrul Islam.