Broadcasting bill to be placed in next session: Inu

The information minister, Hasanul Haq Inu, said on Sunday that the National Broadcasting Bill with the provision of setting up a national broadcasting commission would be placed in the next session of parliament.
The proposed commission will be the regulatory authority having power to issue or cancel registration of electronic media, including television channels, radios and online media, he said.
At a meet the press programme organised by Dhaka Reporters Unity at its auditorium, Inu said that the broadcasting commission would be a powerful government institution.
The government took the initiative to enact a broadcasting law aiming at regulating television channels, radio stations and online newspapers or portals.
The minister said that the government would enact two laws on broadcasting and cybercrime. 
He urged journalists not to fear the two proposed laws saying that the laws would help institutionalise the mass media and check crimes committed through internets.
Inu, also the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal faction president, said that after the enactment of the proposed cybercrime act they would scrutinise if the Information and Communication Technology Act 2009 would be needed anymore.
He said that the Awami League-led alliance government was implementing the tasks of institutionalising democracy and mass media overcoming the shortcomings.
As for formation of the 9th Wage Board for journalists and media workers, the information minister said that the government had already started primary works including seeking name of a Supreme Court judge from the law minister for the formation of the wage board.
He said that the next wage board would definitely fix wages for the journalists and workers of the broadcast media. 
He termed the Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s idea on polls-time government a conspiracy to halt the constitutional process of holding elections and blackmail the government.
Inu said that the idea of polls-time supportive government was completely unconstitutional and an attempt to create grounds for forming an abnormal government.
The government would not let BNP to materialise their unconstitutional demand, he said.
The information minister said that BNP and its chairperson might use the idea as a tool for bargaining to escape lawsuits. 
He asked BNP to decide whether they would go for the next polls with the Jamaat-e-Islami and Khaleda Zia.
As for the murder of journalist couple Sagar Sarwar and Mehrun Runi, Inu admitted the government’s failure to make any headway in the investigation but said that the home ministry was trying to overcome the failure. Dhaka Reporters Unity president Sakhawat Hossain Badsha presided over the programme attended, among others, by its executive body members. 

- See more at: http://www.newagebd.net/article/9577/broadcasting-bill-to-be-placed-in-next-session-inu#sthash.5mifWLFU.dpuf