Resources

This study explores the use and adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Bangladeshi newsrooms focusing on the associated policies and practices for ethical and responsible AI usage.
It reveals a noticeable disconnect between the potential and the practices of AI adoption in Bangladeshi newsrooms, offering a set of recommendations on how to enhance AI literacy, promote its ethical use, and support sustainable AI integration in Bangladeshi newsrooms.
The study employs a mixed method approach, incorporating a voluntary online survey with 53 journalists working in national level news media outlets, a focus group discussion with media managers and five key informant interviews with editors and experts.

AI Adoption in Bangladeshi Newsrooms 2024

This study looks at the media's coverage of renewable energy and aims to understand how its significance is regarded in the mainstream newsrooms in order to ensure that the media plays an effective role in promoting a green transition. To get a comprehensive assessment of news coverage on renewable energy compared to the broader issues of climate change, environment, and non-renewable energy, it analysed 496 news pieces published over three years from 2020 to 2022 in ten leading media outlets. Out of the items analyzed, it was discovered that just 4% of the coverage focused on renewable energy, with 75% of the coverage coming from newspapers. To improve the caliber of the issue's coverage, it suggests creating a pool of journalists with pertinent experience and engaging news managers.

Media Coverage in Question: Shining Light in Renewables

This study analyses thematically selected news items published in mainstream news media of Bangladesh through a gender-equality and gender-sensitivity lens. It tries to find baseline practices and trends of coverage concerning women and people of non-binary genders. The study scanned contents of selected newspaper, television bulletin and online news portal. It sampled all news items, which featured or were created by female and non-binary genders especially hijra, a transgender and intersex community; or covered their perspectives. A minor proportion was selected for excluding them, even when they were essential stakeholders.

Women and Hijras in Bangladeshi News Media

To understand how gender-equality concerns are integrated into the media-related regulations, policies and self-regulatory frameworks in Bangladesh, MRDI carried out this study on gender equality and media regulation. It tries to find ways that can help increase freedom of expression for the people experiencing inequality because of their gender status, without compromising media freedom and independence guaranteed by Bangladesh constitution. The study is expected to help policy-makers, regulators and media houses formulate norms that will create an enabling environment in the media industry, free from all kind of discrimination.

Gender Equality and Media Regulation Study Bangladesh

Over the last decade, Bangladesh news audiences have experienced an increasingly complex environment that has undermined news media trust. The increased competition and the shift to digital media and digital revenue models has steadily undermined the business model for media. Added to this already difficult environment, Bangladesh has experienced an outbreak of “fake news” providers aggravated to “infodemic” proportions by the disinformation associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. To understand the factors undermining confidence in Bangladesh’s news media, MRDI has commissioned a series of reports looking at media literacy, media viability and economics. This national survey of media trust among Bangladesh’s news consumers is an important addition to this effort.

Trust, but Verify: Factors affecting media trust in Bangladesh

Bangladesh' news media industry faces two scenarios in general: Stagnation and Leadership. Stagnation is when the audience loses interest in news media and opts for digital platforms instead. Leadership, on the other hand is when keeping the large and evolving audience, the news media adapts itself in a healthy way. This report explores five factors ranging from audience to advertising in the news industry.

Leadership or stagnation: The future of media viability in Bangladesh

The government of Bangladesh with the help of UNDESA has come forward to help journalists in their research by making necessary data more available and accessible. This report aims to educate journalists on open data and data journalism with extensive research findings.

Open data country report

Although media literacy is yet a new concept in Bangladesh, MRDI, with the help of UNICEF, has conducted research to assess the level of news literacy people have. News literacy is an important skill to have, because it not only makes a more critical news audience but on a broader scale, it may also work as a catalyst for change by providing correct information to readers.

News literacy in Bangladesh national survey

The media and CSOs are undoubtedly two interrelated institutions of our society that share similar interests and visions on a broader scale. In this report MRDI compiles results from fruitful interactive meetings it organized at three districts, bringing together delegates from both local media and CSOs to talk about their common challenges and come up with ways to overcome those challenges.

Media-CSO collaboration: old allies, new challenges

With the help of Manusher Jonno Foundation's generous cooperation, MRDI has gone through extensive workshops, roundtables and a national forum to bridge corporate sector with the media for promoting good governance. The deep conversations brought out topics such as media organisations' limitation in covering corporate issues and on the other hand the business houses' lack of effective communication with the media.

Media and the corporate sector for good governance

The project assesses the ethical adherence in children-centric media reports and further addresses its limitations to make journalists aware and educate them through a training programme to improve their principles of news coverage. The study finds that little space and time are allotted for children, amounting to only 3% or less of total news coverage. However, on a positive note, media outlets covered daily events and issues regarding children in a fairly broad scale. The absence of covering children’s issues in depth was found more predominant in TV than in newspaper, while most of the news of children revolved around deaths.

Baseline study: children in Bangladesh news media-baseline

This report analyses earlier findings to explore the impacts of inappropriate media content on children. It began on a premise that journalists have a key role in ensuring the wellbeing of children and avoid potential harm from news consumption. It finds a lack of planned focus and subsequently lack of news coverage about children, the study further records that while capacity development of journalists is crucial, it is not enough. Further support from top management and editorial policy-making is required.

Follow-up study: children in Bangladesh news media

This report analyses the findings of previous two surveys on child-centric news contents to assess the trend of coverage and its ethical standards. Like the previous surveys it finds a lack of planned focus, empathy and thought towards child-safety and insufficient depth in news coverage. However isolated or sporadic they might seem, there were some positive changes from 2009-2013. While the baseline study aimed at designing a training module for journalists, the two follow-ups focus on indicating further steps to ensure ethical journalism, on and for children.

Second follow-up: children in Bangladesh news media

This study finds an inadequate media coverage of the parliamentary standing committee meetings which reviews their corresponding sectors, policy issues, irregularities and suggest corrective measures. This partial coverage brought many important issues to the surface and ensured the public are aware of the meetings. However, the media sometimes failed to cover or focus on crucial issues due to ignorance and misreporting, while some reports lacked clarity. MPs believe media should be allowed at the meetings in order to be relevant to the public and invite civilians to make them more participatory and meaningful.

JS bodies under media scanner

Regarded as a people’s law, enactment of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2009 is considered a landmark in Bangladesh’s legislation and regulations. The study finds out many comprehensive advantages and potentials of the RTI Act. It has guided journalists to collect information from the authority and produce in-depth investigative reports, especially the sensitive ones. However, major challenges this RTI Act poses on journalists are, lengthy procedure and non-cooperative attitude of government officials. Some suggestions to improve the situation include but is not limited to setting up separate RTI wings, in-house training for journalists, etc.

How the Bangladeshi media use the RTI act for free and qualitative reporting

Although the concept of news literacy as an academic term is rather new in Bangladesh, it is obvious that the audience have some sort of awareness on and understanding of news and media. This level of awareness and understanding needs to be assessed for designing a programme on developing news literacy. To do that, MRDI implemented a project in partnership with UNICEF, which included a situation assessment of news literacy standards. This assessment study aimed to ascertain existing situation of news literacy and the grasp of journalistic ethics of readers with particular focus on young people and generate recommendations for improvement.

News literacy: people’s perception

Community radios in northern and eastern regions of Bangladesh

Community radios in southern and western regions of Bangladesh

Media is well recognized as an agenda setter for the public. Hence, this paper has tried to find out whether newspapers in Bangladesh have any influence on policy formulation, revision and improvement in respect to investment climate. Reviewing two Bengali and two English newspapers for three years, MRDI found that newspapers have strong interest in policy related issues. Still the relationship between newspapers’ role and policy direction is not very strong. So, this paper endeavors to find the answer to one basic question: Why media matters.

Media influence on public policy in Bangladesh: investment climate perspective

Assessment study- how to best change tobacco control policies in Bangladesh

Needs assessment study on media capacity building in disaster reporting

Media content analysis on nutrition

Media content analysis on population movement in Bangladesh