02.19.2010 at 1:31 pm | Have your say »

Bangladesh starts online, multimedia journalism practices

Media houses in Bangladesh have huge potential in using the user-generated contents in their news items as the country has a booming growth of internet and mobile phone uses over the last one decade.

Experts said the news media in Bangladesh, a south Asian nation, have started to reflect the community voices in their news items from early this century though it needs to move forward more to get a good shape of the new communication paradigm.

According to experts, only three to four news media out of more than 30 leading houses have launched their online and multi-media journalism where they encourage general people to share their opinions and contents.

Booming mobile & internet users

According to the January 2010 data of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), some 58.83 million people are using mobile phone as their communication tools in the country.

The number of internet users in the country as of March 2009 is over 600,000 compared to 100,000 in the year of 2000.

Present situation

Assistant News Editor of the Radio Today in Dhaka, SM Salahuddin, said: “More that 30 leading newspapers and broadcasting media have web editions to share their products with the readers and audiences.”

“But few of them use multimedia and online tools to get reaction, opinions and content from the people. The websites of the media have some social webs like blog, twitter, facebook, RSS feed and podcast for sharing their own new items.”

Usually most of the newspapers and broadcasting media put their news items and other products in their website edition without keeping the options of sharing tools like twitter, RSS feed, facebook, podcast and blogs.

Bangladesh, which achieved 6.0 per cent gross domestic product growth on an average over the last eight years, have some four leading English daily newspapers, 10 Bengali dailies and 10 radio and television stations.

The Deputy Bureau Chief of the AFP (Agence France-Presse) in Dhaka, Mr Shafiq Alam, said Bangladesh needs to go long way to utilise the users-created contents in their media as news.

“But it is possible to start massive practice from now as the users of mobile phone and internet are growing day by day. More than 58 million people in the country use mobile phone,” he added.

Nevertheless, few newspapers in the South Asian state seek information and other contents from the news readers and general people to make their news items in the media.

A hear-touched example

One of a renowned English newspaper in Bangladesh—The Daily Star, invites people to share and send their experiences, information, pictures, audio and videos in their website and they use those for their news items also.

A published news itme sent by a reader with a short write up and photo of sick Jamila to the Daily Star newspaper

The newspaper in January 2010 picked up a news content from one of its reader in Dubai. In the content the Bangladeshi-born women sent a write-up and some pictures on a Bangladeshi young girl, Jamila, in Dubai who fallen into critical condition with her heart disease.

The poor family of the girls could not afford adequate money for treatment. The Daily Star newspaper published that as news and many wealthy people came forward to help the girl. Now she is fully out of danger and leading a nice life.

“Due to absence of multimedia and online journalism practices, general people cannot send their contents even after getting some crucial and important pictures, videos and audios through their mobile phones, recorders and cameras,” said a reporter of the daily New Age newspaper in Dhaka, Robab Rosan.

Future outlook

Mr Rosan said yet in recent days many media houses realised that thing and some of those have already started to incorporate blogs, podcast, twitter, facebook, RSS feeder etc for reflecting general people’s voice in their media.

I think all the leading print and electronic media will start to utilize multimedia and online tools to ensure general people’s participation in their news items within a couple of years, he added.

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