Code sets 'no limits on social media, blog'

Dhaka, Sep 17 The government will make no move to control content on powerful new tools like the social media and blogs when it sets up the internet news media guidelines, the Information Secretary says. 
Amid raging debates on the social media over the proposed policies, Secretary Hedayetullah Al Mamoon said Monday, "We have made a draft proposal to bring organisations serving news online under law. We will finalise the guideline after speaking with the stakeholders." 
He also gave his take on the unreceptive reaction on community blogs and Facebook to the government plans to regulate news on the web ecosystem. "The government fully respects the freedom of expression. It does not want to strangle certain opinions. And so, this guideline does not cover personal blogs and social media," he stated clearly. 
Internet journalism is spreading, the Secretary observed. "The readership on the internet is huge too, which is why news providers here have to operate under a specific set of rules and regulations." 
"For example," Mamoon said, "You have to stick to certain codes to broadcast programmes on television. Rules also guide newspaper publications. These measures are aimed at creating similar rules." 
This past Wednesday, the government at a meeting unveiled a draft proposal dubbed Online Media Guideline 2012 to bring mushrooming internet-based news providers under the scope of law. The draft will get a final shape by October, according to the Information Secretary. 
"We do not want to stifle the growth of online news outlets with this guideline, we want to aid their expansion instead," he had said at the meeting. 
The draft requires online news media to pay a one-off Tk 0.5 million for licence and Tk 50,000 every year to renew it. The government, however, may review these fees, if it wishes to. 
The meeting also proposed institution of a 14-strong 'National Regulatory Committee', with the Information Secretary as its head, to oversee establishment and operations of digital news outlets. 
A second nine-strong monitoring committee led by the ministry's Joint Secretary (Broadcast) has also been proposed. 
Government estimates put internet newspapers in Bangladesh at 200, but there are no standard rules or guidelines on the most important aspects of journalistic ethics needed to guide these news outlets.