Noor Islam Habib :
Media are most powerful element of the society in the modern day world. It can influence on an event the individual, groups or national policy formulation process. Media play a vital role in shaping the public opinion both during peace and war. The war is an activity of inter-agency instead of military alone. Media help to generate a congenial atmosphere and relationship between the military and the people. It bring together all components of the society including Armed Forces.
The media-military relations is very sensitive, because they both are components of national power and each is responsible, in its own way for protecting national security.
The media have also impact on troops’ moral and motivation. News of heavy casualties in war can demoralise troops and on the other hand news of successful attack on an enemy force can boost up troops’ morale to fight forward.
Media always look for truth – not in an absolute or philosophical sense. Journalistic truth is a process that begins with the professional discipline of assembling and verifying facts. Media maintains some professional values like objectivity, neutrality, truthfulness etc. Journalism is investigative in nature. Media are keen for maintaining credibility. Media perform patriotic role in national crisis. Media provide voice to the voiceless people. Media’s essence is a discipline of verification. When the concept of objectivity originally evolved it did not imply that journalist are free from bias. It called, rather, for a consistent method of testing information – a transparent approach to evidence – precisely so that personal and cultural biases would not undermined the accuracy of their work. The method is objective, not the journalist. Media follow a set of ethical rules. It always question sources’ motives before promising anonymity. Media provide a forum of open discussion and criticism. Media play role against corruption, abuse of powers, criminal activities, human rights violation, violence against women and also minority populations.
Media people always claim that there is a communication gap between media and military. They do not get military’s side of stories when they inquire about. Timely defence related information is not available to the media and concerned officers are not available for interview while preparing news stories. Military people often abstain from providing information in the name of national security and official secrets act. Military people are not of friendly attitude to the media people.
Military people also have some observation about the media. One of them is ignorance of operational needs. Media are lacking of Bangladeshi peacekeepers’ role in different parts of the globe. Military people think that media are less objective and less patriotic. Media often publish or broadcast misleading, unbalanced, fabricated, motivated and untrue news items. Media always highlight failure than success and portray only unusual events and happenings. One of the most significant allegation against media by the military people is certain section of media are allergic to military and not fair and balanced. Media have lacks of knowledge of defence needs.
Media have some interest to publish or broadcast/telecast about military such as defence budget, defence purchase, failures, human rights violation, corruption, misuse of power and privileges, defence deal with other countries, promotion-retirement and important appointment of high ranking officials, accidents, court martial, misconduct and expansion of cantonment. Media have some general interest to publish such as high profile visits, joint exercises, defence pact etc. Media always are keen to publish news/feature/article on disaster management by the Armed Forces personnel, in aid of civil power activities, UN peacekeeping operations, sustainment of democratization process in the country. Media also show interest on women soldiering and nation building activities.
In present day world nobody escapes media or ignores impact and influence of media. So military people should be sensetised to the emerging media environment. Military people should learn to tell their story of success, courage and glory to the media. Media people should have access to the combat units, Defence installations and cantonment areas. Timely response to the media people is one of the means to improve relations with them. Interviewing by the concerned officers on a particular issue should be allowed. Briefing on defence budget would be mostly welcomed by the media personnel. Regular interaction through seminar, symposium on defence matter such as combating terrorism, role of media and military in ensuring national security can be arranged. Dissemination of defence information can build confidence among the citizens about the capability of Armed Forces in safeguarding national sovereignty and independence. A forum of defence correspondents can help in disseminating such information.
Regular interaction with the media people will certainly create a congenial and faithful relationship with the media. Trust on media people will also produce a rewarding outcome. In present day because of emerging influence of media it became a essential element in decision making process. So media should be included in decision making level. Accepting genuine error and criticism from media is a way to correct wrong action. Media want timely information from their sources because they work within a deadline time frame. So timely information on defence matter which is publishable should be provided within shortest possible time. Concerned officials should also be allowed to speak to the journalist on the public issue. Respond to reasonable suggestions made by the media will be helpful to make a positive image. Equal treatment to all press should be confirmed. Wide media coverage would be available by arranging regular visits of journalist to defence installation. Media culture should be respected. Human rights is much debated issue on present day situation. So training of military personnel on human rights aspects is required. Dissemination of information by publishing feature/article in news papers will help to build up positive image.
Inter Service Public Relations (ISPR) is the only agency who enhances relations between military and media. It is assigned to deal with the media on behalf of Bangladesh Armed Forces. ISPR acts as a bridge between military and media. Both military and media can avail cooperation from ISPR to meet their needs and narrow down the difference if one feels in order to reach mutual understanding. ISPR is playing a vital role to build up a trustworthy and friendly relations between media and military.
The military needs projection of its popular activities on media for its image building and creating favourable public opinion. On the other hand, media need information on military affairs for preparing factual and credible news stories and also cooperation and security during war and conflict scenario. So a close working relations is also necessary for knowing each other’s capabilities, limitations and constraints.
Media are most powerful element of the society in the modern day world. It can influence on an event the individual, groups or national policy formulation process. Media play a vital role in shaping the public opinion both during peace and war. The war is an activity of inter-agency instead of military alone. Media help to generate a congenial atmosphere and relationship between the military and the people. It bring together all components of the society including Armed Forces.
The media-military relations is very sensitive, because they both are components of national power and each is responsible, in its own way for protecting national security.
The media have also impact on troops’ moral and motivation. News of heavy casualties in war can demoralise troops and on the other hand news of successful attack on an enemy force can boost up troops’ morale to fight forward.
Media always look for truth – not in an absolute or philosophical sense. Journalistic truth is a process that begins with the professional discipline of assembling and verifying facts. Media maintains some professional values like objectivity, neutrality, truthfulness etc. Journalism is investigative in nature. Media are keen for maintaining credibility. Media perform patriotic role in national crisis. Media provide voice to the voiceless people. Media’s essence is a discipline of verification. When the concept of objectivity originally evolved it did not imply that journalist are free from bias. It called, rather, for a consistent method of testing information – a transparent approach to evidence – precisely so that personal and cultural biases would not undermined the accuracy of their work. The method is objective, not the journalist. Media follow a set of ethical rules. It always question sources’ motives before promising anonymity. Media provide a forum of open discussion and criticism. Media play role against corruption, abuse of powers, criminal activities, human rights violation, violence against women and also minority populations.
Media people always claim that there is a communication gap between media and military. They do not get military’s side of stories when they inquire about. Timely defence related information is not available to the media and concerned officers are not available for interview while preparing news stories. Military people often abstain from providing information in the name of national security and official secrets act. Military people are not of friendly attitude to the media people.
Military people also have some observation about the media. One of them is ignorance of operational needs. Media are lacking of Bangladeshi peacekeepers’ role in different parts of the globe. Military people think that media are less objective and less patriotic. Media often publish or broadcast misleading, unbalanced, fabricated, motivated and untrue news items. Media always highlight failure than success and portray only unusual events and happenings. One of the most significant allegation against media by the military people is certain section of media are allergic to military and not fair and balanced. Media have lacks of knowledge of defence needs.
Media have some interest to publish or broadcast/telecast about military such as defence budget, defence purchase, failures, human rights violation, corruption, misuse of power and privileges, defence deal with other countries, promotion-retirement and important appointment of high ranking officials, accidents, court martial, misconduct and expansion of cantonment. Media have some general interest to publish such as high profile visits, joint exercises, defence pact etc. Media always are keen to publish news/feature/article on disaster management by the Armed Forces personnel, in aid of civil power activities, UN peacekeeping operations, sustainment of democratization process in the country. Media also show interest on women soldiering and nation building activities.
In present day world nobody escapes media or ignores impact and influence of media. So military people should be sensetised to the emerging media environment. Military people should learn to tell their story of success, courage and glory to the media. Media people should have access to the combat units, Defence installations and cantonment areas. Timely response to the media people is one of the means to improve relations with them. Interviewing by the concerned officers on a particular issue should be allowed. Briefing on defence budget would be mostly welcomed by the media personnel. Regular interaction through seminar, symposium on defence matter such as combating terrorism, role of media and military in ensuring national security can be arranged. Dissemination of defence information can build confidence among the citizens about the capability of Armed Forces in safeguarding national sovereignty and independence. A forum of defence correspondents can help in disseminating such information.
Regular interaction with the media people will certainly create a congenial and faithful relationship with the media. Trust on media people will also produce a rewarding outcome. In present day because of emerging influence of media it became a essential element in decision making process. So media should be included in decision making level. Accepting genuine error and criticism from media is a way to correct wrong action. Media want timely information from their sources because they work within a deadline time frame. So timely information on defence matter which is publishable should be provided within shortest possible time. Concerned officials should also be allowed to speak to the journalist on the public issue. Respond to reasonable suggestions made by the media will be helpful to make a positive image. Equal treatment to all press should be confirmed. Wide media coverage would be available by arranging regular visits of journalist to defence installation. Media culture should be respected. Human rights is much debated issue on present day situation. So training of military personnel on human rights aspects is required. Dissemination of information by publishing feature/article in news papers will help to build up positive image.
Inter Service Public Relations (ISPR) is the only agency who enhances relations between military and media. It is assigned to deal with the media on behalf of Bangladesh Armed Forces. ISPR acts as a bridge between military and media. Both military and media can avail cooperation from ISPR to meet their needs and narrow down the difference if one feels in order to reach mutual understanding. ISPR is playing a vital role to build up a trustworthy and friendly relations between media and military.
The military needs projection of its popular activities on media for its image building and creating favourable public opinion. On the other hand, media need information on military affairs for preparing factual and credible news stories and also cooperation and security during war and conflict scenario. So a close working relations is also necessary for knowing each other’s capabilities, limitations and constraints.
(Noor Islam Habib is presently serving as Assistant Director, ISPR (Air) at Air Headquarters).
