The community radio network could give the marginalized people of the country access to information and thus play immense role in the development of particular communities, speakers at a daylong international seminar said on Sunday. They said, the prospect of the Community Radio is that it could give voice to the voiceless people, but the rules and procedures of the licensing system should have provisions to ensure that the ownership of the information really remain within the community. |
The movement for opening community radio in Bangladesh is going on since 1998. At last Bangladesh Government has responded positively with the demand lead by MMC, BNNRC, CDC, YPSA so on. The Government announced the policy on community radio in 12 March 2008. Under this circumstances, AMIC, BNNRC and UNB jointly organized a seminar on "Peoples Voices, Peoples Participation and Community Radio" in Dhaka on 04 May 2008.
At a daylong international seminar speckers from South Asian counties said, the community radio could give access the majority marginalized community particularly the rural poor's to information. However the grassroots will be linked to the media and will get options to participate in development process. The social communicator and South Asian leaders share thier experiences. The speackers discussed in detail the rules and procedures of the licensing system, however should have provisions to ensure that the ownership of the information really remain within the community.
Information Secretary Jamil Osman, former BTRC Chairman Syed Margub Morshed, UNESCO's Country Director Dr Malama Meleisea and Assistant Country Director of UNDP K A M Morshed addressed the inaugural session. Among others, Secretary General of AMIC Dr Indrajit Banerjee, Professor Brian Shoesmith, Dr. Andrew Taussig, Mohammad Nazrul Islam and Amanullah Khan addressed the session as well. AMIC Head of Research Dr Kalinga Seneviratne presented the keynote paper of the session titled "Overview of Community Radio across Asia: Opportunities and Challenges". Dr. Shamim Reza of Dhaka University presented a presentation on the community radio in Bangladesh.
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