Online news portals cannot legally broadcast talk shows, bulletins: Hasan Mahmud

Information and Broadcasting Minister Hasan Mahmud has said online versions of newspapers or news portals are not legally allowed to broadcast talk shows and bulletins.

The minister highlighted the gazette guideline in this regard on Sunday to journalists during a meeting at the ministry.

“Recently Association of Television Channel Owners (ATCO) leaders brought the matter to our attention that online versions of some newspapers and online portals are publishing talk shows and news bulletins for which they don’t have any approval," he said replying to the questions of journalists.

“We have skimmed through the laws in this regard and found that they cannot publish any such contents according to the subsection 2,4, and 6 of section two of National Online Mass Media Policy 2017,” said Hasan Mahmud.

"In the digital age, providing relevant video clips with news is not a violation of the rules, but the policy does not approve of broadcasting talk shows or news bulletins at all," he said.

"The online versions of the newspaper were registered without any investigation on the condition that the news published in the newspaper would be published online, which should not be different," he said.

If ATCO gives a written objection in this regard, we will inform the concerned authorities by mentioning the sections and subsections of the law, said the minister.