Speakers including journalists and activists at a discussion in Dhaka said on Monday that the ‘propaganda machinery’ of the Awami League was spreading misinformation and disinformation even after the fall of the authoritarian regime of Sheikh Hasina amid the July mass uprising.
They said that the media outlets in Bangladesh had been under tremendous pressure and the freedom of the press was in the worst situation in the country’s history in the past 15 years of the AL regime.
They said that, in the changed scenario, disinformation was still a big challenge for both the government as well as the media outlets.
In his keynote speech on ‘Press Freedom in a new Bangladesh’, Dhaka Tribune editor Zafar Sobhan said that press freedom was in its worst situation in the Awami League regime than ever and even than anytime under the Pakistani martial law regimes.
The Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Media Freedom Coalition, a network of 51 member states working together proactively to advocate for media freedom at home and abroad, organised the discussion on ‘Media and Information Literacy in Bangladesh: Looking Ahead’ at the embassy premises in observance of the Global Media and Information Literacy Week.
Shoeb Abdullah from Activate Rights working for digital hygiene made a presentation on misinformation and disinformation while German ambassador Achim Troster gave an inaugural speech at the event.Â
Zafar Sobhan said that the Awami League, having no democratic mandate after the one-sided election in 2014, came down heavily on the media and the space began to shrink.
The 2018 national election was the real turning point and after that, people’s anger was seen during the road safety protests, he pointed out.
To him, the present situation was ‘immeasurably better’ than that in the past in terms of press freedom.
Zafar, however, said that there were still some threat actors like ‘Cyber Security Act’ and filing wholesale murder cases against journalists after the interim government took over following the fall of Sheikh Hasina on August 5.
Ayesha Kabir, the head of Prothom Alo English Web, said that the pressure from the previous regime of Awami League was not over yet since their propaganda machinery was not dead now.
‘We had been under tension and tremendous pressure throughout the 15 year- Awami League regime,’ she said, adding, they were now rather facing a kind of positive pressure from the people behind the July-August student-led mass  uprising for the media.Â
The journalist said that disinformation was still a big challenge for all in the present situation.
Daily Star journalist Zyma Islam moderated the panel discussion on press freedom.