Bangladesh Nari Progati Sangha (BNPS) organized an opinion sharing meeting on ‘Rural Women in Media: Ensuring Proper Representation’, was held on 27 May 2014 at Brac Centre Inn Conference Room, Mohakhali, Dhaka. Ms Rokeya Kabir, Executive Director of BNPS was the moderator of the meeting.

Mr. Hasanul Haq Inu, Honorable Minister, Ministry of Information was the chief guest of this meeting. Press Institute of Bangladesh director general Md Shah Alamgir, former chairman of CEDAW Salma Khan, Nari Sangbadik Kendra president Nasimun Ara Huq, Jahangirnagar University associate Professor Sharmind Nilormi, and Nazmul Ashraf, head of news of SA Television, were the panel discussants of that sharing meeting.

Gitiara Nasreen, a Dhaka University professor of mass communication and journalism department, presented the keynote paper. She said that according to Press Information Department statistics 2012 there are 1,187 registered newspapers, 44 television channels and 14 community radios in the country.She said urban areas are only eight per cent of the country’s total size and only 28.9 per cent of total population live in urban areas but media focus more on urban areas. Newspapers have published 8.83 per cent news, televisions 8.64 per cent and radios 1.92 per cent news on village and different remote areas, said Gitiara. She said newspapers cover only 16 per cent news on women, televisions 14 per cent and radios 22 per cent

Information minister Hasanul Haque Inu said journalists should keep the facts in mind as women and villages were neglected in media news. Criticizing the role of media, he said there was no talk show on the discrimination against women, especially the women farmers who did not get farmer cards.He asked how many of the television talk shows are arranged on women issues and villages.

Jagannath University teacher Rajib Mir slammed the government for granting licenses to media houses which have less professional journalists.