Though there is no report in Bangladesh media or from law enforcement agencies regarding any death during the current student protests, the US Department of State says otherwise raising a question whether it fell prey to rumours seen on social media platforms. "So we are aware of and are monitoring reports of widespread student protests in Dhaka and around Bangladesh that have killed two and attacked and injured hundreds," US Department of State Spokesperson Mathew Miller said at a regular media briefing in Washington on Monday, July 15. How a night of utter mayhem unfolded at JU When specific information was sought from the US Embassy in Dhaka, its acting Spokesperson Leonard Hill told UNB on Tuesday morning that the statement was “monitoring reports” that included the injuries and deaths. "We are always looking for the most accurate information and welcome journalists’ work to uncover the truth," he said. Quota reform: Protesters announce their Tuesday programme Spokesperson Miller said the "freedom of expression and peaceful assembly" are essential building blocks of any thriving democracy. "We condemn any violence against peaceful protesters. Our thoughts are with those who have been impacted by this violence," he said during the briefing. Despite BCL cranking up violence to intimidate students, quota reformists not cowering Foreign Minister and Awami League Joint General Secretary Dr Hasan Mahmud on Monday said the government would not allow anyone to cause instability in the country, noting that there is an effort to turn the anti-quota movement into an anti-state and anti-government movement by exploiting the sentiments of young students. “The government will not allow this. This government is a very strong government. No political evil force will be allowed to destabilise the country by playing with the sentiments of young students,” he told reporters while responding to a question at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Hasan said anti-state slogans were chanted from the quota movement on Sunday night. “Through the Liberation War in 1971, this country gained independence, sacrificing the blood of 30 lakh martyrs. Here, chanting slogans in favour of razakars are anti-state.” “It is clear that political evil forces have entered the quota movement, including BNP and Jamaat, who want to destabilise the country, and some of their planted people are leading it,” Hasan said.

Diplomatic Correspondents Association, Bangladesh (DCAB) has strongly condemned the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh, an Al Jazeera journalist who was shot dead on May 11 during an Israeli raid on the West Bank. In a statement Friday, DCAB President Rezaul Karim Lotus and its General Secretary AKM Moinuddin demanded that those responsible for the killing of the journalist be held accountable. They also called on the authorities concerned to conduct a thorough and independent investigation into Shirin's death. Also read: ARTICLE 19 condemns killing of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh  In a separate statement Overseas Correspondents Association Bangladesh(OCAB) also condemned the killing.  In a statement signed by OCAB convenor Qadir Kollol and its member secretary Nazrul Islam Mithu voiced deep concern over Shireen's killing and urged all concerned to ensure safety and security of journalists to carry out their free reporting. Shireen was a highly respected journalist in the Middle East whose unflinching coverage was known to millions of viewers, reports AP. Also read: Slain Al Jazeera journalist was icon of Palestinian coverage The 51-year-old journalist became a household name synonymous with Al Jazeera’s coverage of life under occupation during her more than two decades reporting in the Palestinian territories, including during the second intifada, or uprising, that killed thousands on both sides, most of them Palestinians, according to AP.

Bangladesh media suffers from an odd sense of identity crisis. The tabloid media and the mainstream media look largely the same. While the mainstream may be doing less click baiting, the tabloids do it as much as possible, for both a matter of survival now. In the end, both are closer than what mainstream would like to be. The search for differentiated content has become a crisis. One reason could be that the total news items are probably lesser than the total number of media outlets in town. No one with surety can say how many there are exactly. News is churned out by  media workers that are often based on social media content. But even though social media, despite its endless variety can only provide so much news and journalists who cover events are basically doing so sitting at the desk, the news variety is limited and so is the treatment.  Read:Kabul: Is political Islam and socialism over ? Bangladeshis are used to seeing media as adjunct political workers, that is they will follow political lines and uphold one party’s cause or another. This is the colonial legacy when media workers were also freedom fighters and so on. After 1947, this tradition continued grandly and journalists doubled as pushers of the national cause. Hence the journalist and the politicians became interchangeable identity and that tradition was more established after the Pak army action in 1971. After 1971, this tradition continued and there have been many cases where political roles were focused both by professionals and by the consumers. It became the critical indicator. Political reporting and editing are partisan and don't require much creativity or even hard work but can gain followers because it’s political.  The result is that the media over time has become lazy. But now that is causing a crisis. Low politics, high corona For the last few years, the Opposition party failed to mount any significant movement of strength making it less and less significant. As their citadels fell one after another and without much contest, political activities nosedived.  Thus depletion of the political sector as a whole became a factor which failed to generate much news. Public interest therefore grew less and less and the media had to resort to sensational news making to fill up the gaps left by the lack of political news. Second was corona which also killed political news and an unprepared media workforce just kept on repeating numbers in which public interest soon declined. This led to more of the same. Read:Media: May we have a 'Hurmoni' now, please? Finally, social media began to do what media had done before, providing sensational, partisan and high voltage news and views including political ones which satisfied various consumer segments. All these factors together have created a situation in which mainstream and tabloid media are both scrambling for viewers and readers. As IP TV grows but will face the same crisis, it’s time to observe if media in general can make it through the transition as a whole, now knowing where it’s going in the end.

Bangladesh High Commissioner to the UK Saida Muna Tasneem, who also represents the country on the Board of Governors of the Commonwealth, has reaffirmed her government's commitment to upholding media freedoms within the Commonwealth and beyond.  “The government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will continue to work closely with the UK, Namibia and our Commonwealth fraternity to continually uphold and improve media freedom nationally,  globally and within the Commonwealth," she said. The High Commissioner made the remarks at a virtual event organised by the British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and High Commission of Namibia, on ‘Media Freedom in the Commonwealth’ on Wednesday in London. The event was co-hosted by the UK and Namibia at the advent of the World Press Freedom Day Conference 2021 scheduled to be hosted in Windhoek, Namibia on April 29 to May 3 in collaboration with the UNESCO.   Reflecting on the theme of this year’s World Press Freedom Day, “Information as a Public Good”, the High Commissioner paid her tributes to journalists all around the world including those who lost their lives in the line of duty. She called upon the Commonwealth to support sustainability and economic viability of news and media houses across the Commonwealth especially in developing countries during the Covid crisis, enhanced transparency of internet companies, and greater media and information literacy among young people to ensure information is indeed delivered as ‘public good’. High Commissioner Tasneem also briefed the Commonwealth meeting on wide-ranging initiatives and reforms undertaken by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government towards rapid liberalization, privatization and expansion of Bangladesh’s print, electronic and digital media industry over the past decade. The High Commissioner said apart from promoting an exponential growth in private electronic and digital media in Bangladesh, specially the internet-based news portals and TV channels leveraging media freedom and freedom of expression, the present government also created the country’s first journalists’ welfare trust to support special needs of journalists and their family members, and commissioned two wage boards to enhance their pay and salary packages by more than sixty percent since 2013.   Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland QC and High Commissioners of a number of Commonwealth countries, spoke on the occasion. The meeting was co-chaired by Head of Media Freedom at the UK FCDO Mr Kanbar Hussein and High Commissioner of Namibia to the UK Linda Scott.  

Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Vikram Kumar Doraiswami on Monday laid emphasis on ensuring the best possible understanding between Bangladesh and India, as the two countries are set to take the ties to a new height.

Independent TV’s online in-charge and news anchor Golam Kibria tested positive for coronavirus on Friday.