ULAB hosts roundtable on entertainment industry in Bangladesh

Media Studies and Journalism Department (MSJ) of University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB) organised a roundtable discussion on March 19 to address the impact of the entertainment industry on Bangladesh at the university auditorium.

The entertainment industry in Bangladesh is growing rapidly, and the discussion explored the challenges and opportunities of the sector, featuring several experts from different sectors of the Bangladeshi entertainment industry, said a media release.

The speakers shared their perspectives on the prospects and challenges of the entertainment industry in Bangladesh, including the impact of government regulations on the growth of the industry.

As a Researcher and Academician Abantee Harun, said, “Entertainment industry is here to do some business but it also has a social layer. How they treat their audience is also a matter of concern. However, they can’t have separate moral ethics in the seek of entertainment.”

Entertainment Journalist from The Business Standard Sohel Ahsan added, “Because of the OTT the amount of young audience is increasing but the problem is OTT has no censor guideline for that reason sometimes it ignores our social norms and create violence among our young generation’s mind.”

The roundtable discussion also addressed the recent guidelines for OTT platforms jointly drafted by different regulatory bodies in Bangladesh. Stakeholders are concerned that these guidelines are not in cadence with the best practices surrounding OTT platforms in the Asia-Pacific region and elsewhere.

On that a local OTT platform’s Content Strategist Ador Rahman said “OTT has every kind of audience. Day by day it become a more personalised entertainment industry. So, on that note, I want to mention self-censorship, while we have access to globalise entertainment then self-censorship is very important.”

Corporate and Intellectual Property Lawyer Barrister Hamidul Mishbah said, “If we want to regulate OTT first we need to understand technology then we can think of running the OTT by the policy. Apart from that we need to think about the rest of the world, they do not have any extra laws for OTT platforms. If the existing law can cover the whole process, then why do we need the extra guideline.”

“If we talked about Hawa and Paran, both of them are made by independent filmmakers, first they made the film then they sell it on different platforms or channel. Nobody is taking responsibility for the industry. Our entertainment industry is not working. But, yes we need a policy for better infrastructure.” said Independent Filmmaker Proshoon Rahmaan.

The roundtable brought together leading professionals from different sectors of the entertainment industry, including Corporate and Intellectual Property Lawyer Barrister Hamidul Mishbah, Independent Filmmaker Proshoon Rahmaan, Ador Rahman from the Content Integration of Chorki, Entertainment Journalist from The Business Standard Sohel Ahsan and Researcher and Academician Abantee Harun.

Professor Dr Jude William R Genilo, Dean – ULAB School of Social Sciences, moderated the session.