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<DIV><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-STYLE: normal; mso-bidi-font-style: italic"><FONT
face=Arial><FONT color=#0000ff size=6><FONT size=5>Community Radio to give voice
to the voiceless people</FONT> </FONT></FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV>
<H2 style="MARGIN: 6pt 0in 3pt"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-STYLE: normal; mso-bidi-font-style: italic"><FONT
face=Arial><FONT color=#0000ff><FONT size=4><IMG
src="cid:FAD5BC367EAC4D26984EF84AB86CD30A@ceo"></FONT></FONT></FONT></SPAN></H2>
<H2 style="MARGIN: 6pt 0in 3pt"><st1:place><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt">Dhaka</SPAN></st1:place><SPAN
lang=EN-GB style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt">, 05 May
2008<o:p></o:p></SPAN></H2>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 6pt 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
lang=EN-GB style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt">The community
radio network could give the marginalized people of the country access to
information and thus play immense role in the development of particular
communities, speakers at a daylong international seminar said on Sunday. They
said, the prospect of the Community Radio is that it could give voice to the
voiceless people, but the rules and procedures of the licensing system should
have provisions to ensure that the ownership of the information really remain
within the community. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoBodyText style="MARGIN: 6pt 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt">Asian
Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC), Bangladesh NGO’s Network for
Radio and Communication (BNNRC) and United News of Bangladesh (UNB) jointly
arranged the seminar with the theme “Peoples Voices, Peoples Participation and
Community Radio” at the conference room of UNB. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 6pt 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
lang=EN-GB style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt">Information
Secretary Jamil Osman as Chief Guest inaugurated the seminar while former
Chairman of Bangladesh Telecommunication and Regulatory Commission (BTRC) and
former Secretary of the Government Syed Margub Morshed was in the chair. Country
Director and Representative of UNESCO in </SPAN><st1:Street><st1:address><SPAN
lang=EN-GB style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt">Bangladesh
Dr</SPAN></st1:address></st1:Street><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt"> Malama Meleisea and
Assistant Country Director of UNDP in Bangladesh K A M Morshed addressed the
inaugural session as Special Guests. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 6pt 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
lang=EN-GB style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt">Among others,
Secretary General of AMIC Dr Indrajit Banerjee, Professor of International
Institute of Communication, </SPAN><st1:Street><st1:address><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt">UK
Dr</SPAN></st1:address></st1:Street><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt"> Andrew Taussig, Director
General of Press Institute of Bangladesh (PIB) Mohammad Nazrul Islam and
Chairman of UNB Amanullah Khan addressed the session. AMIC Head of Research Dr
Kalinga Seneviratne presented the keynote paper of the session titled “Overview
of Community Radio across </SPAN><st1:place><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt">Asia</SPAN></st1:place><SPAN
lang=EN-GB style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt">: Opportunities
and Challenges”. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 6pt 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
lang=EN-GB style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt">Information
Secretary Jamil Osman said, the present Care Taker Government, as part of its
series of reforms, has formulated and announced the Community Radio policy on
March 12. “We have received a huge response from our community stakeholders to
obtain license to install, broadcast and operate community radios within
specific communities”, he said. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 6pt 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
lang=EN-GB style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt">A regulatory
committee, a national monitoring committee and a technical sub-committee have
been formed, which would scrutinize the applications and select the successful
applicants, provide guidance to them for installation and broadcasting of
community radios and monitor their operational activities, the Information
Secretary added. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 6pt 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
lang=EN-GB style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt">In the first
p</SPAN><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black">lenary session on
“Mobilizing Communities for Community Radio”</SPAN><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt"> Assistant Professor of
Department of Mass Communication and Journalism of University of Dhaka S. M.
Shameem Reza and Director of Centre for Media Rights, Nepal Vinaya Kasajoo
presented papers while Chairperson of Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and
Communication (BNNRC) Md. Rafiqul Alam was in the chair.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 6pt 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
lang=EN-GB style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Head of Research of Asian Media Information
and <SPAN style="COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">Communication Centre
(AMIC) Dr. Kalinga Seneviratne presided over the second</SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: '@SimSun'">
plenary</SPAN><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"> Session.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">Station Manager of Radio
Sagarmatha, Nepal Ghamaraj Luintel and </SPAN><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">Community
Media Consultant of Sri Lanka Kapila Gamage</SPAN><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"> presented
papers respectively on “</SPAN><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: '@SimSun'">How
to Make Community Radio Popular” and </SPAN><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">“</SPAN><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">Radio,
Internet and Digital Technology Connecting Communities”. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 6pt 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
lang=EN-GB style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">Deputy Director
(Liaison and Research) of Bangladesh Betar Faroha Suhrawardy chaired the
roundtable on “Peoples Voices, People’s Participation and Community Radio”.
Country Representative of Article 19 in Bangladesh Tahmima Rahman, Director of
School of Social Sciences of University of Liberal Arts, Bangladesh (ULAB)
Professor Dr Brian Shoesmith, <SPAN style="COLOR: black">Director, Centre for
Media Rights, Nepal</SPAN> Vinaya Kasajoo, and Community</SPAN><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">
Media Consultant of Sri Lank Kapila Gamage addressed the session as panel
discussants. </SPAN><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">About
one hundred </SPAN><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">representatives
from Government, media, academia, NGOs, policy–makers, research organizations
and private sectors of home and abroad took part in the seminar.
</SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana
size=2>-----------------------------------------------------</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana color=#0000ff size=2><STRONG>Bazlu</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2>_______________________<BR>AHM. Bazlur
Rahman-S21BR<BR>Chief Executive Officer<BR>Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and
Communication(BNNRC)<BR>&<BR>Member, Strategy Council<BR>UN-Global Alliance
for ICT and Development (UN GAID)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2>House: 13/1, Road:2, Shaymoli, Dhaka-1207
<BR>Post Box: 5095, Dhaka 1205 Bangladesh</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2>Phone: 88-02-9130750,
88-02-9138501<BR>01711881647 Fax: 88-02-9138501-105</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2>E-mail: <A
href="mailto:ceo@bnnrc.net">ceo@bnnrc.net</A>, <A
href="mailto:bnnrc@bd.drik.net">bnnrc@bd.drik.net</A><BR><A
href="http://www.bnnrc.net">www.bnnrc.net</A></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>