Censorship in Bangladeshi News

[samaruf]

The other day I was watching a clip of NTV news on Rongila.com. There was a news piece of a guy who smashed his wife's head and killed her out of anger. He later gave himself up to the police and was ready for any punishment. What troubled me was the lingering video of his dead wife sprawled out on a dirty hospital gurney with gawkers all around it. I have seen similar video clips of violence and gore in other BD channels and was wondering why there isn't censorship regarding the portrayal of dead bodies.

It is very heart wrenching and demeaning for the victim's family and relatives and also not good for the younger audience who might be watching the news with their parents. I know violent images are ever present in the movies and video games, but when it is shown in news, it's real people we are talking about and not some CGI effect.

[TIslam]

Originally Posted by samaruf

The other day I was watching a clip of NTV news on Rongila.com. There was a news piece of a guy who smashed his wife's head and killed her out of anger. He later gave himself up to the police and was ready for any punishment. What troubled me was the lingering video of his dead wife sprawled out on a dirty hospital gurney with gawkers all around it. I have seen similar video clips of violence and gore in other BD channels and was wondering why there isn't censorship regarding the portrayal of dead bodies.

It is very heart wrenching and demeaning for the victim's family and relatives and also not good for the younger audience who might be watching the news with their parents. I know violent images are ever present in the movies and video games, but when it is shown in news, it's real people we are talking about and not some CGI effect.

I took it to be the "norm" in Bangladesh/the Indian subcontinent. Perhaps no broadcast guidelines exist like they do in the US as proscribed by FCC, and similar authorities in other countries in the west. I know Film Censor Boards exist in those countries, but are broadcast television in their purview?

In the end, I expect the general notion of "decency" is predicated by cultural context. Graphic scenes of violence or its aftermath could be easily tolerated whereas a kissing scene or that of a woman in bikini would not be.

[TheShah]

I agree with TIslam.

It's appalling that cultural context takes precedence over a universal sence of decency and over all common sense. However, since the country has been desensitized to violence and death, it is therefore the norm... yet something of harmless content that does nothing... is protest and ban-worthy.