Television and Public Sphere in Bangladesh: An Uneasy Relationship

Abstract

This article examines the struggles and fluctuations of power relations in the arena of television journalism of Bangladesh by employing the concept of the public sphere. Based on primary data and secondary literatures, this paper answers to a central question: does the emerging television industry in Bangladesh facilitate a democratic public sphere? I argue that although the current events of deregulation, marketisation and commodification of communication indicate a quantitative development of mediating space in Bangladesh, however, this space is too unstable and fragile to accommodate a democratic public sphere. The market-orientation practices of majority TV channels debilitate the macro mediation capacity of television news and make it fundamentally incompatible with the normative theses of the public sphere or post-Habermasian public spheres. Therefore, developing countries like Bangladesh need alternative avenues to foster the public sphere. In the conclusion, this paper stresses the importance of public service broadcasting and community radio as the vehicles to foster counter-publics.