M. Sadman Safi Protik
The ‘Media Trial’ on various issues in Bangladesh is becoming a very common phenomenon day by day. Surprisingly, there is probably no one to talk about the jeopardy of this practice!The media is using it to its advantage and no one is talking as the powerful are reaping the benefits.The first condition of journalism is to doubt and question in the light of that doubt; But now this ‘question’ seems to be disappearing from journalism. On the contrary, listening to the questions of journalists at press conferences nowadays, it is not clear whether it is a question of a journalist or a public relations officer of an administrative force!

There is no denying that competition has increased as there are so many television channels.As a result, there is a really sick competition about who will give break first. TRP (Television RatingPoint) and business often depend on how long a channel is going live broadcast.Then they talk in live for hours on end and due to lack of adequate training they repeat the same thing over and over again and the matter becomes a source of annoyance to the confused audience.Undoubtedly this is a major weakness of television journalism.The biggest weakness is to give a verdict before the court – which is called media trial. Going beyond the law enforcement and government commentary, where is the journalist’s own investigation – the question is now being asked by the journalists themselves.

Surely no one is above the law; But without adequate evidence, or if someone is convicted or the news is published in such a way that his trial is completed before the court, that person has to be despised a lot in society, then it corrupts the journalism.

In addition, after being arrested in various incidents in Bangladesh, women and men are often brought before the media by the law enforcement agencies.They are presented to the media in such a way that they are identified as guilty before the trial. In many cases, various offensive adjectives are also used.The High Court of Bangladesh has repeatedly objected to stopping such activities. Even then it did not stop.

After the arrest of the suspects in all the interesting incidents in Bangladesh, presenting them directly in front of the media or promoting their pictures and identities has become a regular occurrence. Although the police have their own statements here, the detainees are not given a chance to give any statement. According to human rights activists, these incidents are not only defamatory for those individuals, but also a violation of human rights.A kind of disrespectful language is used especially for women. That is, they are targeted and made guilty before being found guilty. Humanity or whatever point of view we speak of, it is by no means right.

The writer is a graduate of Law, North South University