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

Research report- Dhakas thought of the day

The year 2019 was marked for completing ten years of enactment of the Right to Information (RTI) Act. Need for stocktaking of the implementation status of the act was strongly felt. It is out of this felt need that a national survey was commissioned by the World Bank a follow-up that was implemented by a consortium comprised of Manusher Jonno Foundation, MRDI and a leading survey company. The objective of the survey was to take an unbiased account of the current status of implementation of the RTI Act that would eventually enable policymakers and RTI activists to undertake future RTI interventions. The survey involved providers and seekers of information, media, CSOs, RTI activists and experts in the process.

RTI national survey 2019

MRDI conducted a survey to assess the knowledge of RTI Act among the youth, and their perception about its use to access information required to solve their individual problems and those of their country. This survey looks at the concerns of the youth that they think affect their potential as a person, as a social being and as a citizen of a nation. It also explores the role of information in addressing the concerns of the youth and offers some solutions from the recommendations of the youth and experts who work in this field.

Information to empower youth (survey report 2020)

The National Portal of Bangladesh connects 25,000 websites and 42,000 government offices and helps citizens access information. The district portals face more challenges than the national portals because they not only serve the local citizens in different locations, but also deal with the local governments and public administration. Following three consecutive assessments conducted for the ministries with support of World Bank on proactive disclosure, MRDI carried out a study aiming to identify the level of information disclosure by the district portals and add some recommendations to improve their performance. This report is a compilation of the findings and recommendations of the study.

Proactive disclosure assessment report: district portal 2018

As owners of all powers of the state, people have the right of access to all information. To ensure this right of the citizens, Right to Information Act was passed by the parliament in 2009 which makes it mandatory for the authorities to disclose information sought by citizens. While Article 4 of the Act imposes compulsion of disclosure, Article 7 makes some exemption to it. The Article mentions some areas and criteria, information on which are not mandatory to be disclosed. But it has been observed that knowingly or unknowingly, this Article has been misused or wrongly used, thus RTI applicants getting deprived of information.
To make a deeper analysis of the Article, MRDI conducted a perception survey that tried to find its scope, relevance, overlap or conflicting issues and need for expanding or reducing areas of exemption. Methodologies including key informant interview, focus group discussion, divisional workshop and national seminar were applied in conducting the survey. Participants of these interactions shared their perception and made their comments. The survey chalked out a set of recommendations on the basis of the responses, keeping the spirit of the Act in mind. This publication is a compilation of the findings, comments, and recommendations of the survey.

Report perception survey on section 7 of RTIA

Citizens’ access to information in South Asia- diagnostic analysis- Bangladesh chapter

Most of the South Asian countries enacted Right to Information laws during first decade of the century. This Regional Synthesis Report brings together information collected through Country Diagnostic Studies (CDS) conducted by The Asia Foundation and civil society organisations in several South Asian countries including MRDI in Bangladesh. The CDS analyses the state of people’s access to information, and the implementation of RTI legislation in these countries.

Citizens’ access to information in South Asia: Regional synthesis report

Baseline survey report: Promoting citizens’ access to information project

This is a publication on perception of the grassroots people and concepts of stakeholders on Right to Information Act. Perception of different stakeholders generated from roundtables organized at divisional towns. These discussions covered general awareness on the act, perception about the Information Commission, strengths and weaknesses of the RTI Act, challenges at the demand and supply sides in implementing the act, actions and standard criteria for the implementation of this right, incidents and duties of application of this law have also been discussed. Moreover, strength and limitations of this law, challenges to implement it have also been focused here.

তথ্য অধিকার আইন: তৃণমূলের কন্ঠস্বর ( RTI voice of the grassroots- summary of keynote paper in national seminar ‘RTI: How to move forward’ bangla)

Waiting for change
Video: The water we want
Video: Living with Erosion

Waiting for change

Impact assessment of the CSR fund usage by banks

Support to meritorious students

Video: We want opportunity

Support to meritorious students

Livelihood programme for poor women
Video: Story of Basatpur

Livelihood programme for poor women

Video: We want opportunity

Skills development training centre

Video: Saint Martin in Peril

Cleaning up of saint martin coral island

Video: School Blues

School infrastructure development programme

Video: Against all odds

Health facilities for the Bawali and Fisherman community of the Sunderbands

The once stateless: Quick assessment survey on the needs of people of former enclaves in Bangladesh

This is research report which was conducted as a pre-design study for a TV programme on mainstream Muslims under the British High Commission’s Engaging with the Islamic World programme. The study aimed at understanding the attitude and mindset of young people regarding development, education, human rights, democracy and peace in relation to Islamic values and thoughts. This study helped make the programme more acceptable to the viewers and above controversy.

Understanding youth mindset on social values, peace, development, democracy and human rights

Conducted as a pre-design study for a TV programme, the research aimed at identifying the attitude of youth towards the country, its people, and systems; identifying issues for discussion on a TV programme called Amar Bangladesh (My Bangladesh), and collecting views of youth on design and structure of the programme. The goal was to generate dialogues on mainstream values in an entertaining way in order to contribute to developing a Bangladesh that counters the extremist narrative.

Mainstreaming youth values to counter the extremist narrative

Study report: Communication strategy to build mass awareness on technical and vocational education and training

RTI voice of the grassroots english (summary of keynote paper in national seminar ‘RTI: How to move forward’)

Keynote Paper- Ensuring Implementation of RTI Following Pro Poor Approach: Role and Potential of Media