Online media policy by Oct: govt

Dhaka, Sep 12  The government will finalise the draft of guidelines for online news media by October, Information Secretary Hedayetullah Al Mamoon has said.
"We do not want to stifle the growth of online news outlets through the guideline but rather aid their expansion," he told a meeting on the guidelines in the Secretariat on Wednesday.
He added that the draft was being based on the existing guidelines for community radios.
The draft calls for online news media to pay Tk 0.5 million initially for getting the licence for its operations and annually pay Tk 50,000 to renew the permits. It also says that the government could review these fees, if needed.
It also proposes formation of a 14-strong 'National Regulatory Committee', with the Information Secretary as its leader, to observe establishment and operations of such news outlets.
A second nine-strong monitoring committee headed by the ministry's Joint Secretary (Broadcast) has also been proposed.
The Secretary continued that there were 200 online newspapers currently operating in the country according to government records. "However, there is no law, guidelines or ordinance on running online news outlets."
Hedayetullah added that the 'decision' about the online versions of the dailies would be taken through separate discussions.
Representatives of various online media houses present at the meet urged for scrapping the licence-renewal clause from the draft and for including a representative of the Information and Communication Technology Ministry in the National Regulatory Committee.
Copies of the draft guidelines were handed over to the representatives of the online news outlets at the meeting and their reviews have to be submitted in 10 days.
Representatives of various online news outlets including bdnews24.com Social Affairs Editor Baby Moudud, Banglanews24.com Chief Editor Alamgir Hossain and primenews.com Chief Editor S M Mesbahuddin attended the meet.
What the draft guideline says
The draft guideline specifies that applications for renewal of the licences would have to be filed 30 days before its expiry. If, for any reason, the licence is not renewed within the deadline, it can be renewed within a maximum of two months after paying Tk 5,000 as surcharge.
The interested organisation will have to collect the licence application forms by submitting a bank draft or pay order of the amount along with a filled up form.

"Bank drafts or pay orders of non-refundable Tk 0.2 million earnest money will have to be submitted with the licence application. After the licence is granted, the amount will be treated as a deposit."
The draft guideline also allows an owner or director of an online news outlet to own or direct multiple such outle
The government will also be able to suspend or scrap the licences if the outlet fails to pay government fees, or violate conditions laid down by the BTRC, the guideline or the instruction from the government.
The draft also calls for archiving broadcasted contest for at least 90 days.
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