Sangsad Bangladesh Television, an exclusive channel for the parliament, is to go on air today with President Zillur Rahman's address to the new-year session of the Jatiya Sangsad (JS). We welcome the new station, which we hope will be a new and effective channel for the dissemination of news and information on matters related to parliament in particular and to politics in general.
Besides mainly airing live proceedings of the parliament, the station will also broadcast programmes on its history and discussions on important bills and legislative practices in other countries. What could be a better means of connecting the people to their leaders, making the latter visibly accountable to their electorate? The station is expected to create greater awareness among the people about their political and especially parliamentary history. In a time where citizens, more so the younger generation, are said to be turning increasingly apathetic to politics and where little interest is taken in the activities of the highest legislative body of the country, the television channel is expected to foster greater engagement between the people and their elected representatives. We may also hope that this new form of transparency will encourage lawmakers to take their task with even greater responsibility.
In a nation where state-owned media are little more than mouthpieces for the government in power, we hope that this new addition to the electronic media scene will reflect the issues and concerns of not only the government but also the opposition party. Since the telecast will put the JS proceedings in fuller public glare, how accommodating the ruling party is to the opposition in parliament will come under closer scrutiny, something the government would do well to remind itself of. In the same vein, we hope that it will also encourage the opposition to carry out its responsibilities by participating in parliament.
The station should be a clear, unblemished window for the people, enabling them to observe their leaders at work, better understand issues of national importance and to be more involved in the democratic process. While the advent of the channel itself is good news, its acceptability, which will be determined by its content and how inclusive it is, will determine its success in the long run.