The present tension between politicians and press in Bangladesh is unfortunate because ideally it should not occur in democratic polity. Press or broadly media is a link between people and politicians. Politicians and media need each other and there should exist personal, political and professional relationships between them. As late Enoch Powell, the British political leader once said: " For a politician to complain about the press is like a ship's captain complaining about the sea."

We all know that people of all classes, literate or not, are keen to read or hear news about the country and the world. In Bangladesh those who cannot afford to buy newspapers read them pasted on outside walls of newspaper offices. In rural areas one reads a newspaper loud to illiterate people who gather and are keen to hear news.

In Britain, media is often called the Fourth Estate. This means that media is, after the three Estates, the Lords Spiritual, Lords Temporal and House of Commons, the Fourth Estate, a quasi-constitutional Estate. This implies that media is one of the integral constituents of a state.

As a watchdog, media keeps a constant vigil on governments bringing to light their acts of omission and commission and thereby helps governments to measure their popularity among people. It is therefore correct to conclude that there is a symbiotic relationship between media and governments. The presence of journalists in the Parliament indicates this close relationship and this link must not be eroded for sake of openness and accountability.

What constitutes news?

Truthfulness of news published or broadcast is always a matter intensely discussed. In this context Walter Lippmann observes the following in his celebrated treatise Public Opinion:

" The hypothesis, which seems to be the most fertile, is that news and truth are not the same thing, and must be clearly distinguished. The function of news is to signalize an event, the function of truth is to bring to light the hidden facts, to set them into relation with each other and make a picture of reality on which men can act. Only at these points, where social conditions take recognizable and measurable shape, do the body of truth and the body of news coincide.

Another question what is it that makes one thing worth reporting and another not? Graham Murdock offers an answer in the following words:

" It has to be an event. It has to be something that has happened, rather than a long process that's been unfolding over time. It has to have happened recently...... News is not about what ordinary people do, it is about what the powerful people do.....

.. It has to be an event that has some significance for the country as a whole... The other criterion would be human interest: something like a disaster would be automatically news."

Accuracy of news or information is imperative for arriving at informed political and social judgments. The accurate information is important also because of the need to protect public from the damaging consequences of the dissemination of inaccurate information.

Political reporting is one area where media often comes into conflict with politicians. There are two aspects of political reporting which may create problems for politicians and news coverage. Politicians tend to be subjected to a barrage of criticism on charges of hypocrisy for championing a cause which they had earlier vehemently opposed. On the other hand politicians accuse media of having the luxury of being able to pick up and discard news at will.

Freedom of media and democracy:

One of the essential pre-requisites for a successful democracy is a free and fair media. In Bangladesh one could argue that freedom of media is an extension of freedom of thought and conscience and of speech as enshrined in Article 39 of the Bangladesh Constitution Freedom of media is therefore placed on a constitutional footing and is argued to be a right to be respected by all organs of state. It can be argued that this right cannot be derogated or diminished in any circumstances other than what are provided in the constitution.

The success of democratic institutions depends on the degree to which there is freedom of media. In a democratic society media has a vital place and role to play. Journalists more than any other members of society are responsible for making modern democracy possible. They mould and build public opinion that in turn helps authorities in decision-making on issues of interest to public. The media not only conveys to the people the policies and programmes of governments but also acts as a feedback mechanism by making the leaderships aware of what general public feel about specific programmes and policies. Governments gain wide coverage for its developmental activities and also receive views of the electorate.

Without free media there is every possibility that governments may develop complacency, leading to stagnation and unpopular. Controlled media could be attributed in many ways to collapse of totalitarian regimes. Thus the Soviet system broke down because there was no freedom of media. The outbreak of financial crisis in South East Asia in 1997 is partly responsible for the constraints media faced in reporting true picture of economy. The fall of the Suharto regime in Indonesia in 1998 was due to the muzzled media during his 32-year authoritarian rule.

Despite the emergence of democracies in Asia, the freedom of media continues to be under siege. While democracy and freedom of media are inseparable notions, one cannot assume these twin notions take the same focus in Asia as in Western democracies. In Asia media observers believe that freedom of media is measured in terms of degrees in which frankness and criticism are tolerated by governments.

The relationship between media ( includes press) and politicians has always been a subject of intense debate in all countries. In recent times the Tony Blair government and BBC has developed strained relationship. The British government wanted BBC to apologise for "incorrect" information dished out by a BBC journalist that the government had "doctored" intelligence information on threat from presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq but BBC stood by their story and refused to divulge the source of information it received because of journalistic privacy.

Threats to free media:

What sorts of threats do the media including the print media currently face? Media may face conventional modes of suppressiondefamation cases, withdrawal of licences, expulsion of foreign correspondents, jailing, censorship or discreet advices to media what to publish or not. Another method is economic strangulation of the media through withdrawal of advertising by government. Empirical evidence suggests that governments of all persuasion hold and use a list of newspapers in which they consider politically convenient to place government advertisement, ignoring the fact that the selected newspapers do not have large circulation.

Another aspect that merits attention is privileges and immunities available to Members of Parliament in what they speak within the chamber of Parliament. For instance, Article 78 of the Bangladesh Constitution states, among others, that " A member of Parliament shall not be liable to proceedings in any court in respect of anything said, or any vote given, by him in Parliament or in any committee thereof". The principal purpose of this privilege for Members of Parliament is to divulge facts in public interest without fear of any litigation in courts

This privilege or immunity is not unfettered and is given so that MPs can perform their duties without fear or favour in the interest of public. This is a "functional privilege or immunity" to be exercised judiciously and not arbitrarily by Members of Parliament. This implies that privilege or immunity can only be invoked to perform his/her functions as MP in the public interest. . The criteria of public interest must be satisfied. Therefore, MPs have personal legal and moral responsibility to ensure that this extraordinary privilege should not be abused or misused because it may impinge on rights of others in a democratic society. Article 27 of the Bangladesh Constitution states that "all citizens are equal before law and are entitled to equal protection of law."

If an MP makes statements that are defamatory in nature, the defamed citizen has no remedy in the courts because of Article 78 of the Constitution. This being the case, abuse or misuse of the privilege strongly is discouraged by Parliament. In Western democracies there is a long-standing practice that if any defamatory remark is made in the Parliament, the person aggrieved has the right to notify the Speaker with his/her counter- statement so that the Speaker reads out the statement in the Parliament. Furthermore, the defamed citizen can also appear in Parliament with its consent to make his/her position clear. Furthermore the concerned MP is censored by the Parliament he/she misuses or abuses this extraordinary privilege.

Suggested course of action:

Since free fair and enlightened media can supplement and complement a responsible and responsive political class, it is essential that media does not face unreasonable constraints in performing their onerous tasks. There is a need first to reform defamation laws that have been a nightmare for journalists, editors and publishers of newspapers.

The existing laws in Bangladesh, namely criminal defamation under Sections 500, 501 and 502 of Penal Code, constitute a powerful sanction on media and are archaic. They served the colonial interests in British India. Defamation is essentially a civil litigation and criminal nature of defamatory law needs to be immediately scrapped. Instead Bangladesh Parliament may seriously consider enacting new Freedom and Responsibility of Media laws so that the media standards are upheld consistent with the constitutional provision.

In Bangladesh there seems to be no law on freedom of information and certainly no protection exists for "whistleblowers" who reveal corruption within authorities. The Freedom of Information laws provide mechanisms to obtain information as to how a decision is made on an issue. This would benefit both politicians, public and media.

Ombudsmen are common in many overseas newspapers to handle complaints from the public. Furthermore two alternative bodies may be considered. One is a high-powered Independent Press Authority that can hear and adjudicate complaints against media. The Authority may also be entrusted to promote high standards of journalism, to investigate and monitor issues relating to freedom of media and report annually to the Parliament. The other is the establishment of a statutory tribunal to consider complaints about the news media. The tribunal would have the power to award damages against newspapers when individuals' rights or privacy is breached.

An important factor in media is the nurturing of the professional development of journalists by investing in education and research. It is an irony that while the media seems to value educationat least to the extent of pinpointing and condemning any decline in national education standards it appears that they show little interest in educating their own. There has been a long tradition in the US and Britain of newspaper publishers and commercial broadcasters funding education and research.

Conclusion:

Arthur C. Clarke said long ago that freedom of information would be determined not by governments but by technology. A new combination of technology and greater democracy is breaking the shackles on dissemination of information. Control of media by governments is futile because of access to modern information technology ( cable TV or Internet).

The struggle for the freedom of media from state control is central to the development of democracy. A free and fair media is the key to transparency and good governance and is an indispensable feature of democracy. According to President of the World Bank James Wolfensohn: " A free press is not a luxury. A free press is at the absolute core of equitable development". Therefore both media and politicians should have a proper understanding of each other's role.

In the final analysis it is obvious that freedom of media is a very important adjunct of a successful democracy. Bangladesh is no exception. What politicians may not realize is that once the freedom of media is jeopardized they would be losing the benefit of the mechanism through which their objectives are reflected. Many feel that politicians should perhaps avoid attacking media so that it can do its job without fear or favour in the interest of public.

The sooner the present imbroglio between press and politicians in the country is amicably settled the better is for promotion of democracy and development. Furthermore the tussle is having a negative image of Bangladesh abroad. The third US President and the chief drafter of the American Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson said: " No government ought to be without censors; and where the press is free, no one ever will."

Former Bangladesh Ambassador to the UN, Geneva.