Corporate Culture in Journalism: Bangladesh Perspective

Thanks to globalization mass media especially news media is controlled by the largest multinational companies of the world The multinational form of the media has started influencing every sector of life of the people in the world because the media as a social institution is working as an intermediary in the practices of socio-economic and politico-cultural norms it is building both the individual and universal identity and is designing the road map for our daily life However like other corporate organization the media is also running behind the profits News like other profitable goods is becoming the way to profits of the multinational companies Though the newspaper is considered the mirror of the society fourth pillar of the country the consciousness of the nation etc it is criticized by the scholars The multinational companies have been using media as a way to profit instead of the way for social change In this study the evolution and nature of the media under the corporate organization in Bangladesh has been discussed and analyzed critically The objective of the research is to investigate how the capitalism known as the basic structure of the media media economy is influencing the superstructure of the media contents news and advertisement Through content analysis of four national dailies and in-depth interview of media experts the article illustrates how the corporate organization is influencing the news The present study also depicts investigates the corporate news organization and the ownership of the media in Bangladesh with mentioning the history of the corporate media organization in the Western countries In this perspective the contemporary practices of the journalism and its nature in Bangladesh are also elaborated her

The politics and functioning of the East Bengal legislature, 1947-58.

The Muslim League, the ruling party during 1947-54, had overwhelming majority in the legislature. The party unity, however, was somewhat artificially contrived as potential dissident leaders were apparently removed deliberately from the assembly and by-elections withheld following the defeat of ML candidate in 1949. Opposition to the League, projected by the latter as anti-Pakistani, continued to grow outside but had no means of being represented in the assembly which, consequently, did not adequately reflect the prevailing political complexion of the province. The official opposition in the assembly, the Pakistan National Congress, could not perform the role of a parliamentary opposition, primarily due to its political antecedents and the circumstances leading to independence in 1947. The United Front, an election-alliance of opposition parties contesting the Muslim seats, utterly defeated the ML in 1954 election. But the Front lacked elements of unity and stability and soon disintegrated into component units. As no party was then able to command absolute majority, a process of fragmentation, weak political alliances and party loyalties became a regular feature resulting in indecisive majorities and unstable ministries, which in turn led to further worsening of the process. This acute fragmentation in the assembly which was primarily due to prospects of, and disagreements over, share of power and political offices contributed to the over-all political process of fragmentation. Political parties during 1947-58 suffered from lack of organisational development. Mostly, the organisations remained structurally and functionally weak. Where a certain amount of development was attained, this did not however appear to be a sustained process, and the organisation became dormant and came to be dominated by the governmental wing or suffered through leadership and factional struggles. In the discharge of its functions during 1947-58 the performance of the legislature, though not impressive, was not entirely negligible and the government was subjected to some amount of accountability and control. The procedural rules, the performance of committees and the position of assembly secretariat reveal that the legislature did not have a strong institutional character. The dominance of the ML and the attitude of the government during 1947-54 did not allow the assembly to develop and assert itself. Fragmentation of parties, ministerial instabilities and the instances of suspension of parliamentary government during 1954-58 prevented the legislature from acquiring a strong and vigorous existence

Knowledge and response to the COVID-19 pandemic in people with severe mental illness in Bangladesh and Pakistan:A cross-sectional survey

BACKGROUND: People with severe mental illnesses (SMIs) are likely to face disproportionate challenges during a pandemic. They may not receive or be able to respond to public health messages to prevent infection or to limit its spread. Additionally, they may be more severely affected, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. METHODS: We conducted a telephone survey (May–June 2020) in a sample of 1,299 people with SMI who had attended national mental health institutes in Bangladesh and Pakistan before the pandemic. We collected information on top worries, socioeconomic impact of the pandemic, knowledge of COVID-19 (symptoms, prevention), and prevention-related practices (social distancing, hygiene). We explored the predictive value of socio-demographic and health-related variables for relative levels of COVID-19 knowledge and practice using regularized logistic regression models. FINDINGS: Mass media were the major source of information about COVID-19. Finances, employment, and physical health were the most frequently mentioned concerns. Overall, participants reported good knowledge and following advice. In Bangladesh, being female and higher levels of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) predicted poor and better knowledge, respectively, while in Pakistan being female predicted better knowledge. Receiving information from television predicted better knowledge in both countries. In Bangladesh, being female, accessing information from multiple media sources, and better HRQoL predicted better practice. In Pakistan, poorer knowledge of COVID-19 prevention measures predicted poorer practice. CONCLUSION: Our paper adds to the literature on people living with SMIs and their knowledge and practices relevant to COVID-19 prevention. Our results emphasize the importance of access to mass and social media for the dissemination of advice and that the likely gendered uptake of both knowledge and practice requires further attention

Effectiveness of interventions to address obesity and health risk behaviours among people with severe mental illness in low and middle income countries (LMICs) : systematic review and meta analysis

INTRODUCTION: People with severe mental illness (SMI) are more likely to have obesity and engage in health risk behaviours than the general population. The aims of this study are (1) evaluate the effectiveness of interventions that focus on body weight, smoking cessation, improving sleeping patterns, and alcohol and illicit substance abuse; (2) Compare the number of interventions addressing body weight and health risk behaviours in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) v. those reported in published systematic reviews focusing on high-income countries (HICs). METHODS: Intervention studies published up to December 2020 were identified through a structured search in the following database; OVID MEDLINE (1946–December 2020), EMBASE (1974–December 2020), CINAHL (1975–2020), APA PsychoINFO (1806–2020). Two authors independently selected studies, extracted study characteristics and data and assessed the risk of bias. and risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane risk of bias tool V2. We conducted a narrative synthesis and, in the studies evaluating the effectiveness of interventions to address body weight, we conducted random-effects meta-analysis of mean differences in weight gain. We did a systematic search of systematic reviews looking at cardiometabolic and health risk behaviours in people with SMI. We compared the number of available studies of LMICs with those of HICs. RESULTS: We assessed 15 657 records, of which 9 met the study inclusion criteria. Six focused on healthy weight management, one on sleeping patterns and two tested a physical activity intervention to improve quality of life. Interventions to reduce weight in people with SMI are effective, with a pooled mean difference of −4.2 kg (95% CI −6.25 to −2.18, 9 studies, 459 participants, I(2) = 37.8%). The quality and sample size of the studies was not optimal, most were small studies, with inadequate power to evaluate the primary outcome. Only two were assessed as high quality (i.e. scored ‘low’ in the overall risk of bias assessment). We found 5 reviews assessing the effectiveness of interventions to reduce weight, perform physical activity and address smoking in people with SMI. From the five systematic reviews, we identified 84 unique studies, of which only 6 were performed in LMICs. CONCLUSION: Pharmacological and activity-based interventions are effective to maintain and reduce body weight in people with SMI. There was a very limited number of interventions addressing sleep and physical activity and no interventions addressing smoking, alcohol or harmful drug use. There is a need to test the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of context-appropriate interventions to address health risk behaviours that might help reduce the mortality gap in people with SMI in LMICs

Knowledge and response to the COVID-19 pandemic in people with severe mental illness in Bangladesh and Pakistan : A cross-sectional survey

BACKGROUND: People with severe mental illnesses (SMIs) are likely to face disproportionate challenges during a pandemic. They may not receive or be able to respond to public health messages to prevent infection or to limit its spread. Additionally, they may be more severely affected, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. METHODS: We conducted a telephone survey (May–June 2020) in a sample of 1,299 people with SMI who had attended national mental health institutes in Bangladesh and Pakistan before the pandemic. We collected information on top worries, socioeconomic impact of the pandemic, knowledge of COVID-19 (symptoms, prevention), and prevention-related practices (social distancing, hygiene). We explored the predictive value of socio-demographic and health-related variables for relative levels of COVID-19 knowledge and practice using regularized logistic regression models. FINDINGS: Mass media were the major source of information about COVID-19. Finances, employment, and physical health were the most frequently mentioned concerns. Overall, participants reported good knowledge and following advice. In Bangladesh, being female and higher levels of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) predicted poor and better knowledge, respectively, while in Pakistan being female predicted better knowledge. Receiving information from television predicted better knowledge in both countries. In Bangladesh, being female, accessing information from multiple media sources, and better HRQoL predicted better practice. In Pakistan, poorer knowledge of COVID-19 prevention measures predicted poorer practice. CONCLUSION: Our paper adds to the literature on people living with SMIs and their knowledge and practices relevant to COVID-19 prevention. Our results emphasize the importance of access to mass and social media for the dissemination of advice and that the likely gendered uptake of both knowledge and practice requires further attention

Tobacco use in people with severe mental illness: Findings from a multi-country survey of mental health institutions in South Asia.

People with severe mental illness (SMI) tend to die early due to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, which may be linked to tobacco use. There is limited information on tobacco use in people with SMI in low- and middle-income countries where most tobacco users reside. We present novel data on tobacco use in people with SMI and their access to tobacco cessation advice in South Asia. We conducted a multi-country survey of adults with SMI attending mental health facilities in Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan. Using data collected with a standardized WHO STEPS survey tool, we estimated the prevalence and distribution of tobacco use and assessed receipt of tobacco cessation advice. We recruited 3874 participants with SMI; 46.8% and 15.0% of men and women consumed tobacco, respectively. Smoking prevalence in men varied by country (Bangladesh 42.8%, India 20.1% and Pakistan 31.7%); <4% of women reported smoking in each country. Smokeless tobacco use in men also varied by country (Bangladesh 16.2%, India 18.2% and Pakistan 40.8%); for women, it was higher in Bangladesh (19.1%), but similar in India (9.9%) and Pakistan (9.1%). Just over a third of tobacco users (38.4%) had received advice to quit tobacco. Among smokers, 29.1% (n=244) made at least one quit attempt in the past year. There was strong evidence for the association between tobacco use and the severity of depression (OR=1.29; 95% CI: 1.12-1.48) and anxiety (OR=1.29; 95% CI: 1.12-1.49). As observed in high-income countries, we found higher tobacco use in people with SMI, particularly in men compared with rates reported for the general population in South Asia. Tobacco cessation support within mental health services offers an opportunity to close the gap in life expectancy between SMI and the general population. ISRCTN88485933; https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN88485933 39. [Abstract copyright: © 2023 Rajan S. et al.

Prevalence of physical health conditions and health risk behaviours in people with severe mental illness in South Asia : A multi-country cross-sectional survey

4,3, 4, 3, 5,6,7, 1,8,9, K. Siddiqi 1,8, 1,10 and on behalf of the IMPACT research team