A letter has already been sent to the Department of Posts and Telecommunications to cancel the domain allocation of 191 online news portals based on the information of government intelligence agencies for activities that spread confusion among the public.
On Monday, January 30, in the question and answer session of parliament presided over by Speaker Dr. Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury, information minister Hasan Mahmud said that steps will be taken to stop anti-national news in the online media in response to a question of Mujibul Haque a member of the the opposition party in the Jatiya Sangsad.
A letter has been sent to the Department of Posts and Telecommunications to block the links of 191 online news portals.
In response to the question of Didarul Alam, Member of Parliament of Chattogram-4 Constituency, the Information Minister said, Bangladesh Television as a government electronic media has no scope to broadcast substandard programmes.
Following the national policy, BTV is producing and broadcasting various programmes including music shows, documentaries, dramas, entertainment programmes by nurturing the native culture and traditions.
Hasan Mahmud also said, currently 4 state-owned TV channels and 34 private satellite TV channels are operating in the country. The TV channels are broadcasting as per the Government's National Broadcasting Policy-2014. The National Broadcasting Code has clear guidelines to prevent counterculture.
Currently, 346 online newspapers including 162 online news portals, 169 daily newspaper online portals and 15 TV channel online portals have been registered by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
Referring to the government's plan to stop the dissemination of anti-national news, Hasan Mahmud said that currently the number of daily, weekly and monthly newspapers published from the capital Dhaka is 1,141. Among them, 509 daily newspapers, 345 weekly newspapers and 287 monthly newspapers.
