Q1- Do you think Bangladeshi mainstream media has covered the news on 'Durga Puja

violence' properly? Provide your arguments based on media theories.

Answer:
In the beginning, most media didn’t develop the story regarding on 'Durga Puja violence.
Meanwhile social media and messaging systems had been rife with photos, films and calls to
violent action. Inevitably, a whole lot of this changed into incorrect information that amplified
the violence. Speaking on situation of anonymity.

A little after 2 am on October 13, the 8th day of Durga Puja, a person walked into the puja venue
at Nanuardighi in Cumilla, Bangladesh. The main idol changed into curtained off for the night;
however, close to it transformed into an idol of Hanuman. The guy located a book close to the
Hanuman idol and left. In the morning, the neighborhood police obtained a name that stated a
Quran, the Islamic holy book, had been determined close to the Hanuman idol. By the time the
police arrived at the venue, a younger guy had changed into filming the scene, and he streamed
the police putting off the Quran on Facebook.

The wave of fake news: There are numerous such examples of misinformation, together with
one wherein an eight-year-antique video changed into circulated as a current incident and every
other that confirmed a person smashing an idol in a temple, which became out to be an unrelated
incident from over years ago. Another little bit of faux information changed into a image that did
the rounds of social media on October 16

Media blackout: The violence in Cumilla after information broke on social media
approximately the alleged desecration of the Quran at a Durga Puja venue at the financial
institution of Nanuar Dighi and Hindu temples had been vandalised via way of means of mobs at
some stage in Durga Puja celebrations. At least 4 human beings had been killed at some stage in
clashes at Hajiganj sub-district in Chandpur bordering Cumilla on Wednesday and dozens
injured in clashes in a couple of districts so far. The violence later unfold to some of Durga Puja
venues in Noakhali, Chandpur, Cox’s Bazaar, Chattogram, Chapainawabganj, Pabna,
Moulvibazara and Kurigram.

The authorities have been in strength for more than a decade, and the Opposition birthday
celebration is slightly there. In borderline authoritarian weather like this, journalism can’t thrive
A report by the Center for International Media Assistance from April 2021 said that despite
significant growth of Bangladesh’s media sector in the last 20 years, media freedom in the
country had been steadily declining.

On October 14, news of the communal violence started to find space in Bangladeshi media.

The daily newspaper Business Standard carried a single column story on the Cumilla attacks on
its front page on October 14. The story was from a government handout and said the government
was “investigating the reported desecration of the Holy Quran in Cumilla.” On October 15,
Business Standard carried the Prime Minister’s statement as its lead story and said BGB had
been deployed in 22 districts. An editorial commented on the causal incident, lamenting that it
was “easy to manipulate the mob mind using the omnipotent social media”.

The Daily Star, Bangladesh’s largest circulating daily English language newspaper, carried a
single-column story on October 14 about the “police-mob clash” in Chandpur where three people
were killed following reports of the Quran being demeaned in Cumilla. The next day, the
newspaper’s lead story was the Prime Minister’s statement on the communal violence. Another
story was on security being beefed up in certain areas in the country.

Prothom Alo, a popular Bangla daily in Bangladesh which also publishes news in English on its
website, carried a statement by Quader on October 14. The tone was far more conciliatory,
emphasising communal harmony in Bangladesh, than the statement carried in UNB the day
before. Later on October 14, Prothom Alo carried a press note from the government which said it
was investigating the incident involving the desecration of the Quran.

Reports of the Cumilla incident had been greater outstanding with inside the media because the
police 450 arrests and recognized Iqbal Hossain, a long-time drug addict and mentally risky man,
as the only who had located the Quran on the Durga Puja venue. Hossain became arrested on
October 14. Now the media is publishing the whole lot because the police had been making
progress.