Information Adviser Mahfuj Alam on Monday urged journalists not to create any favourable environment for the ousted fascist spirit.

Speaking at a seminar titled “Murder and Persecution of Journalists During Fascist Regime,” Mahfuj also commented that politicisation is the enemy of the media sector and is the main source of the erosion of journalists’ rights.

The seminar was jointly organised by the Bangladesh Journalists Welfare Trust at the Department of Film and Publication (DFP).

He said, "Don’t create consensus for fascism. Some newspapers don't use the word ‘July Uprising’ and instead they use ‘July movement’. They term the [current interim] government as a subsequent government after regime changeover. This interprets that some 2,000 people did not embrace martyrdom and there was a conspiracy against Hasina and she was ousted. The mass media cannot do this.”

Furthermore, media reform commission chief Kamal Ahmed, Daily Jai Jai Din editor Shafik Rehman, Amar Desh editor Mahmudur Rahman, Prothom Alo executive editor Sajjad Sharif, and former editor of the Daily Sangram Abul Asad spoke on the occasion.

Meanwhile, information ministry secretary Mahbuba Farjana said the government is working on 266 cases against journalists and of them, 74 are found to be filed for harassing them. Besides, some 29 cases are filed on personal affairs. If the government wants, it can be rescinded.

At the seminar, the cover of a publication titled 'Murder and Persecution of Journalists under Fascist Regime' was unveiled. The publication by the Journalists Welfare Trust highlights the killing of 61 journalists and the torture of 3,588 others in 15 years of Sheikh Hasina's rule.