The government of Bangladesh decides to take strict action against foreign media channels for violating the country’s law. As a result, Bangladesh blocked the airing of foreign channels from October 1. This also includes Indian media, along with Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Nepal.
The decision comes as foreign media channels continue to air content with advertisements. As per Bangladesh’s law, foreign channels cannot air content with advertisements, unless they pay taxes.
Furthermore, since local operators in Bangladesh do not have the technology to filter out advertisements, authorities asked the channels to provide advertisement-free content.
“But they have been violating the condition,” said Ruzina Sultana, deputy secretary of Information and Broadcasting Ministry.
“They are showing advertisements here but not paying taxes. There have been talks over the issue but no progress,” she further added.
Therefore, government-directed cable operators to block such channels. Important to note, this also includes India’s. This is rather interesting since India and Bangladesh share friendly ties.
Read more: India and Bangladesh strengthen their defence cooperation
Moreover, Bangladesh’s Information and Broadcasting Minister Hasan Mahmud also requested his Indian counterpart to look into the matter of providing “clean feed.”
“I informed the matter of implementing clean feed broadcasting to my Indian counterpart during my recent visit to India,” he said.
However, it appears as if India ignored the request because it continued to provide content with advertisements.
Nevertheless, Bangladesh then retaliated by blocking foreign channels, including India’s for violating Bangladesh’s law.
Read more: Justice demand continues after Bangladesh-India border killing
France 24 grills Indian media for spreading fake news
Prior to Bangladesh’s crackdown, France called out Indian media for spreading fake news.
A French state-owned channel called France 24 airs a daily fact-checking segment called “Truth or Fake.” Recently, it brought India under the spotlight and debunked its claims against Pakistan’s role in Afghanistan.
France 24 report exposes Indian media’s fake news about Pakistani Air Force launching an offensive in Panjsher. #Panjsher #Afghanistan pic.twitter.com/SsURwaYMpz
— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) October 2, 2021
The fact-checker, James Creedon talked about how India claimed that the Pakistani Air Force conducted airstrikes in Panjshir and they played footage from a video game as “proof.”
At this, the anchorpersons expressed shock that a news operation was presenting that as factual news to the public.
While James Creedon debunked Indian media’s disinformation campaign news by news, the anchorpersons were of the view that such tactics are giving journalism a poor name.
Read more: Propaganda, misinformation and deception by Indian Media
With Bangladesh taking action against Indian media for violating the law despite warnings, and France exposing India’s fake news campaign, it appears as if things are not going too well for the Indian media internationally.