Abstract
Media as the fourth pillar of the state plays a watchdog role over the work of the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. With that in mind, this chapter presents a brief analysis of the media landscape in Bangladesh by providing an overview of the evolution of news media in the country. It moves on to discuss the ‘politico-commercial nexus’, a nexus that goes to the heart of the viability of media, not just in Bangladesh, but, as has been seen recently, elsewhere in the world. We analyse this nexus with regard to media ownership and policymaking. This chapter analyses television media ownership, in particular, and the National Broadcasting Policy 2014. Despite the emergence of social media such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, television continues to dominate the media landscape in Bangladesh, certainly insofar as its ability to set a news agenda. It remains the principal source of news and entertainment with 80% viewership among a 165 million population in Bangladesh (Azad, 2019), although these numbers have to be offset against an understanding that the vast majority of the population does not have personal access to a television set: instead televisions in public settings such as tea shops are the access point. Nevertheless, television media presents a complex case study of Bangladesh’s neoliberal transformation, capital integration, wealth concentration and class inequality (Muhammad, 2015; Rahman, 2020). This chapter concludes by highlighting the importance of institution building in the media landscape, and, perhaps not surprisingly, concludes by arguing that the Bangladeshi media landscape is dominated by the political and economic powers (Rahman, 2020) rather than the other way around.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ahsan, S. B. (2018). Bangladesh’s Media: The Hurdles to Free Expression. The Round Table, 107(2), 233–235.
Anam, M. (2002). The Media and Development in Bangladesh. In R. Islam, S. Djankov, & C. McLeish (Eds.), The Right to Tell: The Role of Mass Media in Economic Development (pp. 267–274). The World Bank.
Andaleeb, S., & Rahman, A. (2014). Television News in Bangladesh: Intersection of Market-oriented Journalism and Perceived Credibility. Asian Journal of Communication, 24(6), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/01292986.2014.946064
Azad, A. K. M. (2019). Bangladesh—Media Landscape. European Journalism Centre. https://medialandscapes.org/country/bangladesh
Bhuiyan, A. J. M. S. A. (2011, May). Press Freedom: Still a Far Cry. Forum.
Chakravartty, P., & Roy, S. (2013). Media Pluralism Redux: Towards New Frameworks of Comparative Media Studies ‘beyond the West’. Political Communication, 30(3), 349–370.
Chatterjee, P. (2012). The Black Hole of Empire: History of a Global Practice of Power. Princeton University Press.
Genilo, J. W., Asiuzzaman, M., & Osmani, M. M. H. (2016). Small Circulation, Big Impact: English Language Newspaper Readability in Bangladesh. Advances in Journalism and Communication, 4, 127–148. https://doi.org/10.4236/ajc.2016.44012
Gilding, B. (2019). The Rise and Fall of Hicky’s Bengal Gazette (1780–2): A Study in Transoceanic Political Culture. The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, 47(1), 1–27.
Haider, Z. (2010). Newspapers and Journalism in Bangladesh. Dhaka, Bangladesh: Nabajung. http://www.thedailystar.net/forum/2011/May/press.htm
Khan, A. R. (2013). Postgraduate Thesis: Private Television Ownership in Bangladesh: A critical Qualitative Inquiry. Pokfulam: The University of Hong Kong. http://hub.hku.hk/handle/10722/195981.
Khurshid, A. S. (1971). Pakistan. In J. A. Lent (Ed.), The Asian Newspapers’ Reluctant Revolution (pp. 298–316). Iowa State University Press.
Mahmud, S. (2013). The Transformation of the Bangladesh Press. In B. Shoesmith & J. W. Genilo (Eds.), Bangladesh’s Changing Mediascape: From State Control to Market Forces. UK.
McChesney, R. W. (1998). The Political Economy of Global Communication. In R. W. McChesney, E. M. Wood, & J. B. Foster (Eds.), Capitalism and the Information Age: The Political Economy of the Global Communication Revolution (pp. 1–26). Monthly Review Press.
Mosco, V. (2009). The Political Economy of Communication (2nd ed.). Sage.
Muhammad, A. (2015). Bangladesh—A Model of Neoliberalism: The Case of Microfinance and NGOs. Monthly Review, 66 (10). Retrieved March 25, 2021, from https://monthlyreview.org/2015/03/01/bangladesh-a-model-of-neoliberalism/
Mukherjee, S. (1990). Media Handbook for South Asia. New Delhi, India: Allied.
Murdock, G., & Golding, P. (2005). Culture, Communications and Political Economy. In J. Curran & M. Gurevitch (Eds.), Mass Media and Society (pp. 60–83). Arnold.
Raboy, M. (1994). The Role of the Public in Broadcasting Policy-Making and Regulation: Lesson for Europe from Canada. European Journal of Communication, 9(1), 5–23.
Raha, B. (2013). Harinath Majumdar and the Bengal Peasantry. Indian Historical Review, 40(2), 331–353.
Rahman, A., & Lowe, G. F. (Eds.). Public Service Media Initiatives in the Global South (pp. 19–35). Simon Fraser University Library. http://mono-graphs.lib.sfu.ca/index.php/sfulibrary/catalog/book/1
Rahman, A. (2016a). Public Media Initiatives in Bangladesh: Politics and Prospects. In R. W. McChesney, E. M. Wood, & J. B. Foster (Eds.), Capitalism and the Information Age: The Political Economy of the Communications Revolution (pp. 1–26). Monthly Review Press.
Rahman, A. (2016b). Print and Electronic Media. In A. Riaz & M. S. Rahman (Eds.), Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Bangladesh (pp. 325–339). Routledge.
Rahman, A. (2020). The Politico-commercial Nexus and its Implications for Television Industries in Bangladesh and South Asia. Media, Culture & Society, 42(7–8), 1153–1174.
Rahman, A., Reza, S. M. S., & Haq, F. (2017). The Politico-commercial Nexus and the Broadcast Policy Reform in Bangladesh. In S. Udupa & S. D. McDowell (Eds.), Media as Politics in South Asia (pp. 110–126). Routledge.
Riaz, A. (2005). Unfolding State: The Transformation of Bangladesh. Whitby, ON, Canada: De Sitter.
Riaz, A. (2019). Voting in a Hybrid Regime (Politics of South Asia). Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan.
Roy, R. K. (2020). Emergence of a ‘new public sphere’ in Bangladesh: The Interactive Dynamics between News Television, Citizens and the State. Visual Studies, 35(1), 65–75.
Shoesmith, B., & Genilo, W.J. (2013). Bangladesh’s Changing Mediascape: An Introduction. In B. Shoesmith, & J.W. Genilo (Eds.), Bangladesh’s Changing Mediascape: From State Control to Market Forces (pp. 1–13). Bristol: Intellect.
Shoesmith, B., Mahmud, S., & Reza, S. M. S. (2013). A Political History of Television in Bangladesh. In B. Shoesmith & J. W. Genilo (Eds.), Bangladesh’s Changing Mediascape (pp. 237–255). Bristol: Intellect.
Yousuf, M., Haque, M. M., & Islam, M. K. (2019). Online Niches of English-language Newspapers in Bangladesh: Analyzing News Stories and User Engagement on Facebook. Newspaper Research Journal, 40(1), 106–126.
Zhao, Y. (2011). The Challenge of China: Contribution to a Transcultural Political Economy of Communication for the Twenty-first Century. In J. Wasko, G. Murdock, & H. Sousa (Eds.), The Handbook of Political Economy of Communications (pp. 558–582). Malden, MA.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Bin Ali, A., Muurlink, O. (2022). Bangladeshi Mediascape: Political and Corporate Power. In: Khondker, H., Muurlink, O., Bin Ali, A. (eds) The Emergence of Bangladesh. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5521-0_21
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5521-0_21
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-16-5520-3
Online ISBN: 978-981-16-5521-0
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)