Bangladeshi embassies told to monitor journalists traveling abroad

 JournalismPakistan.com |  Published: 20 May 2017

The Bangladeshi Foreign Ministry issued a directive instructing embassies to monitor journalists traveling abroad. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned this move, calling it an infringement on press freedom.

Summary

WASHINGTON D.C. - The Bangladeshi Foreign Ministry should immediately and publicly rescind its instructions to the countries’ embassies to monitor journalists traveling abroad, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday.

In a letter sent to foreign missions on May 17, the ministry said journalists involved in activities that go “against the interest of the country” must be identified and reported to the ministry. The letter was signed by the director-general of the ministry’s External Publicity Wing, Md. Lutfor Rahman, and cited a recommendation from the Parliamentary Standing Committee, which had expressed concern about journalists abroad giving “wrong information on Bangladesh in the international arena.”

It was not immediately clear what prompted the concern. The Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to CPJ’s emailed request for comment, and Rahman did not answer CPJ’s phone call.

“This directive turns Bangladeshi diplomats into media spies,” Robert Mahoney, CPJ’s deputy executive director, said from New York. “It is not the job of government to determine whether journalists are serving the interests of their country through their reporting. This order should be rescinded immediately.”

At a press briefing, Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali said that he had not seen the directive, but that journalists would not face any obstacles in their work or their ability to travel abroad, according to Dhaka’s Daily Star newspaper. The foreign minister also said he considered it necessary to monitor whether anyone was engaging in activities that go “against the country’s image and interest,” according to the Daily Star.

CPJ research shows a deteriorating climate for free expression in Bangladesh. - Committee to Protect Journalists

KEY POINTS:

• Bangladeshi Foreign Ministry told embassies to monitor journalists abroad.
• Committee to Protect Journalists criticized the directive as harmful to press freedom.
• Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali claimed he hadn't seen the directive.
• The directive aims to identify journalists posing threats to national interest.
• Research indicates a declining environment for free expression in Bangladesh.