DRU Denounces Mobile Phone Restrictions on Journalists at Polling Centres
The Dhaka Reporters Unity (DRU) has described the imposition of strict restrictions on journalists carrying mobile phones at polling centres for gathering information related to the 13th National Parliamentary Election and the referendum as a blatant, unjustified, and unacceptable interference with press freedom.
In a joint statement issued on Monday, February 9, DRU President Abu Saleh Akon and General Secretary Mainul Hasan Sohel said that in an era heavily dependent on mobile technology, the logic of restoring discipline in the election process by banning journalists from carrying mobile phones at polling centres is entirely unreasonable and baseless. On the contrary, they warned, such restrictions would create opportunities to conceal electoral irregularities and fuel public suspicion regarding the transparency of the voting process.
The DRU leaders further stated that allowing journalists to carry mobile phones does not constitute interference in the election process; rather, it is an essential component of ensuring a credible, transparent, and accountable election.
According to the restrictions issued by the Election Commission, carrying mobile phones has been prohibited within a 400-yard radius of polling centres for all individuals except a limited number of officials on duty. In practice, the DRU said, this directive effectively renders journalists assigned to election duties incapable of performing their professional responsibilities.
The DRU believes that such decisions directly undermine constitutionally guaranteed press freedom and the public’s right to information.
The organisation clearly stated that modern journalism is unimaginable without mobile phones. Information gathering, real-time reporting, capturing photos and videos, documenting irregularities, and maintaining urgent communication all rely heavily on mobile devices.
Preventing journalists from carrying mobile phones, the DRU asserted, amounts to controlling the flow of election-related information and making the electoral process opaque in the public eye.
The DRU expressed deep concern and anger over what it described as certain directives of the Election Commission and their field-level implementation, which are creating deliberate obstacles to journalists’ professional duties. Such actions, it said, are in no way compatible with democratic practices. Silencing journalists, the organisation emphasized, can never ensure a free, fair, and acceptable election.
The DRU has issued a strong and firm demand to the Election Commission to immediately ensure the right of journalists assigned to polling centres to carry mobile phones. Otherwise, the organisation warned, it will consider such restrictions as anti-media decisions and will be compelled to undertake further programmes in coordination with journalists across the country.
The DRU made it unequivocally clear that there will be no compromise on the issue of independent journalism and that the organisation will remain fully vocal and active in protecting journalists’ professional rights.
DBTech/EK/OR
