Role of women journalists in anti-corruption movement

With a view to assess the challenges of female journalists in Bangladesh while discharging professional duties and also to find ways to strengthen their capacities as well as role they could play to fight corruption, Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) organized an orientation program on 11 March 2015, for the Dhaka-based female journalists from both print and broadcast media. The program, which was a part of TIB’s ongoing media development initiatives where journalists are trained on investigative reporting, was organized on the occasion of the International Women’s Day. The program was attended by a total of 32 participants who discussed about their predicaments as women despite having established beyond doubt that given the equal opportunity, they could perform better than their male counterparts. The orientation kicked off with two presentations – one on ‘Role of Women Journalist in Anti-Corruption Movement’ made by TIB’s Director for Outreach & Communication Dr. Rezwan-ul-Alam and another on ‘Corruption and Women’ by Quazi Shafiqur Rahman, manager of Gender.

TIB’s Executive Director Dr. Iftekharuzzaman and Deputy Executive Director Sumaiya Khair also spoke. In his welcome speech Dr. Zaman said that corruption is a global problem and a major hindrance to economic and social developments. 

Especially, the developing countries are the worst affected by it and since almost half of the population is women, they are adversely hit. He appreciated the role of women journalists in Bangladesh who are, as he pointed out, working with highest professional integrity and excellence against all odds.

The participants also took part in a group work to

identify women related issues in the specific areas of health, education, local government, land and climate finance governance and how they can report more on those topics.

It is to be noted that TIB has been organizing an Investigative Journalism Award program since 1999 and also organizing training on investigative reporting since 2010. Besides, it started a Fellowship program for journalists in 2012. The objective of these activities is to increase the capacity of the media on investigative reporting so that more news about corruption are published and a greater awareness created_at.