Shawdesh Desk:

Ruling Awami League president and prime minister Sheikh Hasina has pledged to make arrangements so that journalists in Bangladesh do not face torture, intimidation, or false cases, if her party is elected in the next general election to be held on January 7.

‘As per the newly enacted law, the Cyber Security Act of 2023, the privacy and information of individuals will be protected, and appropriate measures will continue to be taken to prevent misuse,’ she said while declaring the AL’s election manifesto at a hotel in Dhaka.

She said that financial and medical assistance to journalists will be further extended under the Journalist Welfare Trust while the process of forming the 10th Wage Board for journalists is underway.

Sheikh Hasina said that her government had ensured the free flow of information and freedom of media. ‘In the 1996-2001 tenure, we were the first to open television & radio to the private sector,’ she said.

Mass media has developed tremendously in the last 15 years so that the number of newspapers in the country is now 3,241 while 33 private TV channels, 23 FM radios, and 18 community radio stations are currently broadcasting, she added.