Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen on Saturday said through misquoting him journalists have tried to make the US Bangladesh’s enemy.
“Media outlets including print, electronic and online published news with false headlines that the USA ‘a war-mongering country’ which I didn’t say. The headings had no connection with what I actually said. I think our journalists have weaknesses and I’ll be happy if they gain maturity,” Momen said.
The minister said this after paying homage to Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at his grave in Tungipara, Gopalganj.
“Through misrepresenting the facts, our journalists have tried to make the US our enemy. Either these journalists didn’t know Bangla properly, or they did this for specific reasons. They need to do research on why such low-quality journalism prevails in the country,” Momen added.
He said he thinks the country’s journalists have weaknesses in them and they need more maturity while writing and publishing news.
Momen said that the headlines of the reports were false, fabricated and imaginary.
The minister further said the country’s journalism does not have standards and the journalists lack moral and ethical values which were present in the past.
“It’s a shame for the journalists who wrote those false stories. It’s a thing to be sorry about,” Momen said.
On October 26, Momen was reportedly misquoted by some media outlets after he spoke at the seminar "Sheikh Hasina at the United Nations" organised by the Progressive Columnist Forum of Bangladesh at the Jatiya Press Club in Dhaka.
Later, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a rejoinder, saying that misleading and baseless news quoting Foreign Minister Momen sent the wrong message to the people and the government of the US.
"Following the programme, some media outlets, including newspapers, online portals and television channels, ran news misquoting the foreign minister saying – the US economy cannot function without war, the US is a war-mongering country, war keeps the US economy going, and Taiwan next for the US when the Ukraine war ends," the foreign ministry said.
“The US thrives on war and the country is always setting the stage for war.”
The foreign ministry said such misleading and baseless news is “very unfortunate and unexpected”.
The ministry requested the media outlets to retract the news and run the correct version of Momen's statement.
