A Study on Cybersecurity News Coverage in Bangladeshi Newspapers
Un estudio sobre la cobertura de noticias sobre ciberseguridad en los periódicos de Bangladesh
Um estudo sobre a cobertura de notícias de segurança cibernética em jornais de Bangladesh
e-ISSN: 1605 -4806
VOL 25 N° 112 septiembre - diciembre 2021 Monográfico pp. 577-591
Recibido 08-09-2021 Aprobado 20-12-2021
https://doi.org/10.26807/rp.v25i112.1911
Ruman Shikder
University, Dhaka
ruman@mcj.jnu.ac.bd
Uzzal Talukder
University, Khulna
utalukder@mcj.ku.ac.bd
Octavio Islas
Universidad Central del Ecuador
Abstract
At the present world, people are more connected with cyber issues, with the emergence of the cyber world, cybersecurity has also become more important in its users’ life either in personal or official cases. Media has a great role in establishing cybersecurity by providing accurate and responsible information. This paper analyzed the presentation of cybersecurity-related news items and photos in Bangladeshi newspapers. All copies published during the time frame of October to December 2019 were selected for this study and a total 59 number of news items were collected and analyzed. This paper analyzed the news items under different issues, like hacking and tracking, stealing and passing information, information leaking, security of cyberspace users, etc. This study explored the news types, photograph presentation, placement of news, and using news sources. This study followed Gatekeeping and Social Responsibility theories and found that most of the news is event-driven, news items have just been translated from foreign newspapers, especially Kaler Kantho published lots of foreign news without mentioning exact sources, and the number of investigative and awareness-raising news is very poor which also means that these newspapers played very little social responsibility role.
Keywords: Cybersecurity; Cyber Space; Internet; News Coverage; Bangladesh.
Resumen
En el mundo actual las personas están más conectadas con los temas cibernéticos, con el surgimiento del mundo cibernético, la ciberseguridad también ha cobrado mayor importancia en la vida de sus usuarios ya sea en casos personales u oficiales. Los medios tienen un gran papel en el establecimiento de la ciberseguridad al proporcionar información precisa y responsable. Este documento analizó la presentación de noticias y fotografías relacionadas con la ciberseguridad en los periódicos de Bangladesh. Para este estudio se seleccionaron todas las copias publicadas durante el período de octubre a diciembre de 2019 y se recopilaron y analizaron un total de 59 noticias. Este documento analizó las noticias bajo diferentes temas, como piratería y seguimiento, robo y transmisión de información, filtración de información, seguridad de los usuarios del ciberespacio, etc. Este estudio exploró los tipos de noticias, la presentación de fotografías, la ubicación de las noticias y el uso de fuentes de noticias. Este estudio siguió las teorías de Gatekeeping y Responsabilidad Social y encontró que la mayoría de las noticias están impulsadas por eventos, las noticias acaban de ser traducidas de periódicos extranjeros, especialmente Kaler Kantho publicó muchas noticias extranjeras sin mencionar las fuentes exactas, y la cantidad de noticias de investigación y concientización. -La difusión de noticias es muy pobre, lo que también significa que estos periódicos jugaron muy poco papel de responsabilidad social.
Palabras llave: Ciberseguridad; ciberespacio; Internet; Cobertura de noticias; bangladesí.
Resumo
No mundo atual, as pessoas estão mais conectadas com questões cibernéticas, com o surgimento do mundo cibernético, a segurança cibernética também se tornou mais importante na vida de seus usuários, seja em casos pessoais ou oficiais. A mídia tem um grande papel no estabelecimento da segurança cibernética, fornecendo informações precisas e responsáveis. Este artigo analisou a apresentação de notícias e fotos relacionadas à segurança cibernética em jornais de Bangladesh. Todos os exemplares publicados no período de outubro a dezembro de 2019 foram selecionados para este estudo e um total de 59 notícias foram coletadas e analisadas. Este artigo analisou as notícias sob diferentes questões, como hacking e rastreamento, roubo e transmissão de informações, vazamento de informações, segurança dos usuários do ciberespaço, etc. Este estudo seguiu as teorias de Gatekeeping e Responsabilidade Social e descobriu que a maioria das notícias são orientadas por eventos, as notícias acabam de ser traduzidas de jornais estrangeiros, especialmente Kaler Kantho publicou muitas notícias estrangeiras sem mencionar as fontes exatas, e o número de investigações e conscientização -a divulgação de notícias é muito fraca, o que também significa que esses jornais desempenharam muito pouco papel de responsabilidade social.
Palavras-chave: Cibersegurança; ciberespaço; Internet; Cobertura de notícias; Bangladesh.
Introduction
Cyberspace has become an inseparable part of human life. The Internet World Stats (2021) estimated the global population in 7,838,004,158 persons. 63.2% of them are Internet users (4,948,868,638). Another information source, Digital Hootsuite (2021), estimated 4,660,000,000 Internet users (59.5% of world´s population). Business, transactions, politics, official or various daily activities are involved with the cyber world (Farrel, 2012). People are using cyberspace and sharing their personal and confidential information, photos, videos, bank accounts, and other important information here (Rathore, Sharma, Loia, Jeong, & Park, 2017). The current world is becoming more technology-dependent every day and new technologies are emerging regularly with many opportunities as well as a number of risks (Van Loon, 2013). Cybersecurity has therefore become a major factor in the success of new technologies (Chronopoulos, Panaousis, & Grossklags, 2017). Cybersecurity becomes more significant and potentially more disastrous as our dependence on information technology increases. According to the Symantec Cybercrime Report, published in April 2012, cyber-attacks cost US$114 billion each year (Jang-Jaccard & Nepal, 2014). According to World Economic Forum, from 2019 to 2023, approximately $5.2 trillion in global value will be at risk from cyber-attacks (Ghosh, 2019). Security is being disrupted in cyberspace in different parts of the world. There are various irregularities, crimes, and abuses in cyberspace this is why the importance of cybersecurity is increasing every day (Geers, 2011). In the present world, information seems very powerful than in the previous time. It can be leaked at any moment due to a lack of proper security. If information is not secured, the use of cyberspace will be more harmful than beneficial (Jardine, 2015). Cybercriminals commit various crimes by exploiting various weaknesses and flaws in cyberspace (Guinchard, 2011). As a result, users face various kinds of problems and sufferings. Ensuring cybersecurity is crucial to every user so that they can use this without fear, and can use this space for various good and productive purposes. There is a lot of work being done around the world to improve cybersecurity. To ensure cybersecurity, users need awareness along with the development of technology (De Bruijn & Jenssen, 2017). The media can play an important role to enhance cybersecurity by covering cyber issues properly and with social responsibility. This article presents the kind of news coverage on cybersecurity in Bangladeshi media.
Cybersecurity
The Internet world is known as the cyber world and here security issues are known as cybersecurity. According to Edward Amoroso, cybersecurity is related to reduce the risk of malicious attacks to software, computers and networks. This includes tools used to detect break-ins, stop viruses, block malicious access, enforce authentication, enable encrypted communications, and many other things (Amoroso, 2006). Cybersecurity makes sure protection of the network and data systems from unauthorized individuals and gives developed information protection and the sustainability of any management and it also makes sure confidentiality in an organization (Kshetri, 2017).
Cybersecurity refers to the protection against various viruses, hacking and information theft, and distortion. With the growth of activities in the cyber world, the concept ‘cybersecurity’ also became a burning issue worldwide. All of the arrangements and prevention measures for securing information in the cyber world are included in cybersecurity. There are lots of threatening issues regarding cybersecurity: adware, virus, ransomware, backdoor, key logger, route kit, spyware, Trojan horse, warm, fishing, hacking, and various new apps and methods. Cybersecurity researchers defined this as “the organization and collection of resources, processes, and structures used to protect cyberspace and cyberspace-enabled systems from occurrences that misalign de jure from de facto property rights” (Craigen, Diakun-Thibault, & Purse, 2014, p. 17).
Many scholars explained the aspects of cybersecurity. “Cybersecurity consists largely of defensive methods used to detect, and thwart would-be intruders” (Kemmerer, 2003, p. 03). Newspapers should disclose all issues regarding cybersecurity so that their users can keep themselves safe from cybercriminals. Cybersecurity entails the safeguarding of computer networks and the information they contain from penetration and from malicious damage or disruption (Lewis, 2006). As the cyber world is going ahead globally so the need for cybersecurity is increasing continuously.
Cybersecurity in Bangladesh
Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) says the number of Internet users in the country is 103.476 million (FE Online Report, 2020) which is a very significant portion of its total people. According to Data Portal, the number of Internet, mobile, laptop, computer, and camera users is increasing in Bangladesh (Simon, 2020). Lots of business activities are going on by using virtual platforms. People use different social media and every moment they share different information and content. Like the other countries of the world, in Bangladesh, cyberspace is also part of humans’ daily life and entertainment. But it is an issue of concern that the cyberspace of Bangladesh is not as secure as other countries. Bangladesh is at risk of cyber-crimes that threaten the national security of the country (Nabi & Islam, 2014). The Government also treats cybersecurity with very much importance.
Cybersecurity and Bangladeshi Media
The present age is called the age of information and communication technology (ICT), as the ICTs have a significant impact on almost all activities around the world and Bangladesh is not out of this. Now covering the issues regarding ICT is very crucial for mass media where cybersecurity occupied a big space. And according to Schwab (2017), we are moving fast to another age called Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Getting information regularly about cybersecurity is very substantial for its users. In this case, mass media can play a vital role to keep people updated accurately with social responsibility on cybersecurity issues. Most of the media in Bangladesh publish a page on cyber issues regularly, sometimes cybersecurity issues appeared on the front page. According to Government, Bangladesh has 44 Television channels, hundreds of daily newspapers, and thousands of online media (Kamruzzaman, 2020). Mass media has a crucial social responsibility to publish investigative, interpretative, and advocacy content regarding cybersecurity (Hanitzsch, 2007). If all media in Bangladesh reports on cybersecurity regularly, it can have a positive impact on ensuring cybersecurity.
Materials & Methods
This study is conducted in a mixed-mode method. Qualitative explanations of quantitative data have been explained in the study. The study is conducted through content analysis which is a well-established research method. This method is very popular in mass communication research. In addition to mass communication, the method is used for research in other branches of knowledge. The Content Analysis method is the process of selecting content and reading or finding it. After reading and systematically measuring the economic news of the newspaper, they have been analyzed (Neuendorf, 2017). There are two parts to the content analysis method such as Quantitative content analysis method and the Qualitative content analysis method. This study will use both quantitative and qualitative methods of content analysis. Content analysis is a research technique for making replicable and valid interferences from data to their context (Krippendorf, 1980). Content analysis can be both quantitative, focused on counting and measuring, and qualitative, focused on interpreting and understanding which categorize or code words, themes, and concepts within the texts and then analyze the results (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005).
Not only counting and measuring of this method but also interpreting and understanding the content will be focused in this article. This study has selected two newspapers The Prothom Alo and The Kaler Kantho. Prothom Alo is the highest circulated newspaper and Kaler Kantho is 2nd highest newspaper in Bangladesh. Newspapers published from October 01 to December 31, 2020, are selected as sample size. Total 59 news items in number have been found relating to cybersecurity and these were analyzed. In this study, the issue of cybersecurity has been analyzed under the categories like “virus attacking”, “hacking”, “tracking financial transactions”, etc. News sources, presenting the pictures and placement of news items have also been analyzed here.
Theoretical Framework
Gatekeeping and Social responsibility theories have been applied to analyze data in this study.
Gatekeeping Theory
The news and photographs published by the selected newspapers have been analyzed according to the Gatekeeping theory. “Gatekeeping is the process of culling and crafting countless bits of information into the limited number of messages that reach people each day, and it is the center of the media’s role in modern public life” (Shoemaker & Vos, 2009, p. 01).
In this study, we have tried to explore which issues regarding cybersecurity the news is getting preferences, how much investigative, interpretative, or advocacy news are published by these newspapers, from which foreign sources news items are collected, how much investigative news is published. The gatekeeping concept means the process of selecting news items for publishing, so this study mostly involves this theoretical concept. The Gatekeeping theory is suitable to analyze the issues mentioned above. Erzikova (2018) tells “Essentially, gatekeeping is judgment or decision making about what information should be gathered, evaluated, and ultimately shared” (p.01). Shoemaker and Vos also uphold, “This process determines not only which information is selected, but also what the content and nature of messages, such as news, will be” (Shoemaker & Vos, 2009, p.01).
Social Responsibility Theory
The role and responsibilities of the media in cybersecurity have been analyzed by Social Responsibility Theory. The media has a significant relationship with individuals, societies, states, and the international system (Calhoun, 1988). People have a lot of faith and dependence on media and journalists. So the media also have a lot of responsibility on the people (Christians, Glasser, McQuail, Nordenstreng, & White, 2010). Communication researchers provide the theory of social responsibility focusing on the responsibilities and behavior of the media and journalists. The essence of Social Responsibility Theory is that the media will monitor the various institutions of society and publish objective and accurate news. The media will be responsible for producing and publishing news. According to Social Responsibility Theory, the media will assume certain responsibilities and obligations of society and will strive to fulfill them (McQuail, 1987).
According to this theory, this paper has been analyzed the issues: which types of news these media reported on cybersecurity to make the public aware, how much importance was given to the news coverage, and how much responsibility was played by the selected newspapers. It also analyzed whether the media is fulfilling its responsibility with credible information to make people aware of cybersecurity.
Results
Prime Issues of News Coverage
A Total 59 number of news have been published on cybersecurity in the selected two newspapers during the selected timeframe. This study identified the news items based on news issues. The study found that most of the news is on hacking and tracking, stealing and passing information, information leaking, security of cyberspace users, an initiative by the government and social media platforms to regarding cyberspace, etc.
Table 01: Prime Issues of News Coverage
|
Issues |
Prothom Alo |
Kaler Kantho |
Total |
|
Hacking and Tracking |
04 |
06 |
10 |
|
Stealing and Passing Information |
00 |
09 |
09 |
|
Information Leaking |
04 |
02 |
06 |
|
Security of Cyberspace Users |
05 |
05 |
10 |
|
Law and Government Initiatives Regarding Cyber Spaces |
10 |
01 |
11 |
|
Initiatives by Social Media Platform and Cyber Institutions |
03 |
01 |
04 |
|
Fake Account |
01 |
01 |
02 |
|
Virus Attacking |
00 |
02 |
02 |
|
Identifying Wrong Information |
00 |
02 |
02 |
|
E-commerce and Financial Transaction |
00 |
02 |
02 |
|
Others |
01 |
00 |
01 |
|
Total |
28 |
31 |
59 |
Source: Two selected newspapers (October 01 to December 31, 2020).
Hacking and Tracking
Total of 10 news items were published on Hacking and Tracking were six items had pictures. Prothom Alo published four news items and Kaler Kantho published six items. Prothom Alo published three news items on hacking and one on track. Out of four news items published by Prothom Alo only one is covered from Bangladesh by a staff correspondent and others were collected from foreign news sources. All of these four news items were event-driven and there was no investigative news. One news headline is ‘Priyanka’s what’s app account is hacked: congress’ which has become news for prominence.
On the other hand, Kaler Kantho published five news items on hacking and one on track. Out of these six news items two were covered by staff reporters and the other four news items were collected. Three of the four collected news had no clear source; just the word ‘internet’ was mentioned as source. Here three news items were event-driven, two are advocacy news, and the rest is investigative. But this investigative report also mentioned ‘Internet’ as its source titled ‘I-phone Collects Information Even after Closing Location Tracking’.
Stealing and Passing Information
Total nine news items were published on stealing and passing information. Prothom Alo didn’t publish any news item on this issue whether Kaler Kantho published all nine news items. Total five news items were published with pictures.
Kaler Kantho published its news items on the ‘Tech Protidin’ page, and all are also collected from abroad, in eight news items it mentioned ‘Internet’ as the source and in only one case it mentioned the source ‘BBC’. Out of a total of nine news items of Kaler Kantho, two items were related to each platform Twitter and Facebook, and one on each Instagram, Chrome Browser, TV streaming device, Smart car and I-phone. Three news items here explored the event of stealing and passing information for the first, three news were published by finding the gap from which information stealing can occur, two news were published on how to stop stealing and passing information, rest one news item was on the issue of increasing users after stealing information.
Information Leaking
Total six news items were published on information leaking. Kaler Kantho published two news items on this issue and Prothom Alo published four news items. Out of those six news items, only one had a picture that was published in Prothom Alo. Kaler Kantho has published one investigative news item titled ‘Gamester is not anyone new’ which was covered by its internal reporter, it was published on the sports page as it is regarding sports issues. Another item of Kaler Kantho was event-driven titled ‘Workers information of cybersecurity institution leaked in online’.
Out of four news items of Prothom Alo one was covered by a special reporter titled ‘Trump wants to meet the officer who leaked information’ and other news story was collected from foreign news sources. Out of those four news items, two were published on the international page, and another two were published on the ‘Tech Barta’ page. Out of the news items of Prothom Alo, one was about the information leakage of Facebook users, one was on Twitter users, one was on both Facebook and Twitter users, and the last one was on the leakage of talking over phone.
Security of Cyber Space Users
A total of 10 news items were published on the security of cyberspace users. Five items were published by Kaler Kantho and the other five were published by Prothom Alo. Total five news items had pictures. Out of the five news items of Kaler Kantho three had pictures, and all of the news was published in the ‘Tech Barta’ page. Three news items were event driven and two were advocacy news. The advocacy news was titled ‘Advice for keeping ID secured following proper steps’, and ‘How to delete google account permanently’. Another three news items were event-driven regarding the activities of different apps which will work to keep secure the cyberspace users.
Out of total of five news items of Prothom Alo three were advocacy news, one was event-driven and the rest was interpretative titled ‘Face identifying technologies are getting more acceptance in the airports’. All of the news items were published on the ‘Tech Barta’ page and two news items had pictures. One news item was covered by its own correspondent and the other four were collected from foreign news agency where two were from Tech Crunch Senate.
Law and Government Initiatives Regarding Cyber Spaces
In this section, we identified the news regarding the steps taken by the government. Any announcement, action, or laws by the government regarding cyberspace was selected here. Total 11 news items were found on this issue. Only one news item was published by Kaler Kantho and the other 10 news items were published by Prothom Alo. The only news published by Kaler Kantho was on closing the false and porn sites by the government. This report was made by the statement of telecommunication minister which was covered by staff reporter. Ten news items were published by Prothom Alo where five news items were published on the ‘Tech Barta’ page, three on The International page, and two in other pages. Five were event-driven, three were interpretative, and the rests two were investigative.
Initiatives by Social Media Platform and Cyber Institutions
Different social media platforms and cyber institutions were taking steps to protect cyberspace users. Such steps were also covered in the newspaper within the selected days for this study. A total of four news items were found regarding such steps. Three news items were published by Prothom Alo and another one was published by Kaler Kantho. Out of three news of Prothom Alo, two were with a competition arranged by Kaspersky and another one was with the steps by Facebook authority. One news item was covered by own correspondent and another one was collected from Voice of America. There has one news item where no news source was mentioned. On the other hand, Kaler Kantho published one news item with pictures which was titled ‘Need to prove age for creating Instagram account’. All of these four news items published by two newspapers were event-driven.
Fake Account
There have lots of fake accounts in cyberspace, which were very risky for ensuring cybersecurity. Prothom Alo and Kaler Kantho each newspaper published one news item on this issue. Prothom Alo published its news on the International page and Kaler Kantho published on the ‘Tech Protidin’ page. Prothom Alo mentioned the source ‘Guardian’ but Kaler Kantho mentioned only the word ‘Internet’ which doesn’t mean the exact news source. The news published by Prothom Alo was interpretative titled ‘Cyberwar in Russia for intervention in USA election’. On the other hand news item of Kaler Kantho was an event driven titled ‘Facebook deleted 540 Crore fake account’.
Virus Attacking
Virus attacking was another threat for ensuring cybersecurity. Only Kaler Kantho published two news items on this issue where no item had the picture. Both of these news items have published on the ‘Tech Protidin’ page. There has no news source mentioned in both news items; this newspaper just mentioned the word ‘internet’ as the news source. Both news items published by Kaler Kantho were event-driven.
Identifying Wrong Information
Wrong information was found often in cyberspace. Kaler Kantho published two news items regarding this wrong information but Prothom Alo didn’t publish any news on this. Kaler Kantho published two news items on the same event on different days. Both of the news items were event driven and published on the ‘Tech Protidin’ page. In one news item, the source was mentioned as Mashbal and in another news item the source was mentioned as ‘internet’. But it is significant that both of the news items were published with pictures.
E-commerce and Financial Transaction
Two news items also were found on e-commerce and financial transaction. One item was on e-commerce and another on financial transactions. One was published on the front page in an interpretative news item and another one was published on the ‘Tech World’ page which was an investigative news item. Only the investigative one had a picture where the news was on hijacking thousands core by women using online financial transactions. It seems very good that both of the news items were covered by its staff correspondent.
Others
Prothom Alo also published an interpretative news item with a picture titled ‘Promotes militancy using Tiktok’. This news item was collected from BBC and published on the ‘Techbarta’ page though the newspaper could publish it on the general page as it was more relevant to the general issue.
News Sources
Total 11 news sources were used for collecting news in our selected days and 14 news items was covered by staff and special correspondents of these newspapers. Foreign newspapers and news organizations like BBC, Guardian, AFP, and Tech Crunch Senate were the prime sources for news for Prothom Alo. Kaler Kantho collected news from BBC, Mashbal, Daily Mail, and The Next Web. But a huge number of news items has been published by Kaler Kantho just mentioned the word ‘Internet’ as the source, which doesn’t mean any source exactly. No source was mentioned by one news item from each Prothom Alo and Kaler Kantho.
Table 02: News Sources
|
News Source Name |
Prothom Alo |
Kaler Kantho |
Total |
|
Staff Correspondent |
05 |
08 |
13 |
|
Special Correspondent |
01 |
01 |
|
|
BBC |
05 |
01 |
06 |
|
Guardian |
04 |
04 |
|
|
AFP |
03 |
03 |
|
|
Tech Crunch Senate |
03 |
03 |
|
|
Voice of America |
02 |
02 |
|
|
NDTV |
02 |
02 |
|
|
Mashbal |
01 |
01 |
|
|
Daily Mail |
01 |
01 |
|
|
The Next Web |
01 |
01 |
|
|
The Verge |
01 |
01 |
|
|
Simple Flying |
01 |
01 |
|
|
Internet |
18 |
18 |
|
|
No Source |
01 |
01 |
02 |
|
Total |
28 |
31 |
59 |
Source: Two selected newspapers (October 01 to December 31, 2020)
Presenting the Picture
Pictures were published with 29 news items which were 49% out of total news items. Prothom Alo published picture with 39% news items where Kaler Kantho published with 58% news items. These pictures seem very helpful to the audience to understand the issues as it was cyber regarding more technical news items.
Table 03: Presenting the Picture
|
News Items/Newspaper |
Prothom Alo |
Kaler Kantho |
Total |
|
News Items with Pictures |
11 |
18 |
29 |
|
News Items without Pictures |
17 |
13 |
30 |
|
Total No. of News Items |
28 |
31 |
59 |
Source: Two selected newspapers (October 01 to December 31, 2020)
Placement of News
News placement found diversified in Kaler Kantho which published its cybersecurity news items in six segments whether Prothom Alo in three segments. Though Kaler Kantho published its news on diverse pages most of the news was published on the Tech Protidin page which was 77% of its total news items. It was significant that Kaler Kantho published two opinions on cybersecurity whether Prothom Alo didn’t publish any item on this. On the other hand, in the case of Prothom Alo it published seven news items on the International page.
Table 04: Placement of News
|
Kaler Kantho |
Prothom Alo |
|
Tech Protidin: 24 |
Tech Barta: 19 |
|
DesheDeshe (International): 01 |
International: 07 |
|
First Page: 01 |
First Page: 02 |
|
Opinion: 02 |
|
|
Tech World: 02 |
|
|
Sports: 01 |
Source: Two selected newspapers (October 01 to December 31, 2020)
Findings
Awareness Raising News in Very Poor Number
A Very poor amount of news has been found on awareness issues. Now-a-days most people are engaged with cyberspace. Enormous official activities and documentation are carried out in cyberspace. So it is very important to make the people and offices aware of security. The media should play its social responsibility role to raise awareness on this. This study found only nine awareness-raising news items by these two newspapers where Prothom Alo published three news items and Kaler Kantho published six news items. Though advocacy news is very poor in the overall context, it seems good that Kaler Kantho published twice the news items comparatively to Prothom Alo on this.
Table 05: Types of News
|
News Types |
Prothom Alo |
Kaler Kantho |
Total |
|
Event Driven |
17 |
20 |
37 |
|
Interpretative |
6 |
2 |
8 |
|
Investigative |
2 |
3 |
5 |
|
Advocacy News |
3 |
6 |
9 |
|
Total |
28 |
31 |
59 |
Source: Two selected newspapers (October 01 to December 31, 2020)
Kaler Kantho: No Exact Sources Mentioned
Kaler Kantho published a total of 23 news items by collecting from the foreign newspaper or news agencies. But it is noticeable that in the case of 18 news items it just mentioned ‘Internet’ as the news source. This means that this newspaper does not follow the journalism standard appropriately. Both newspapers also didn’t mention any sources for one case.
The News was Just Translated from Foreign Newspaper
Most of the news is collected from foreign newspapers or news agencies and just translated here. This also means that these newspapers don’t give proper importance to cybersecurity news. Out of total cybersecurity news items, only 24% of news items are covered by staff or special correspondents of these newspapers. The proportion is around the same for these two newspapers.
Very Poor Number of Investigative News
Only a few Investigative news was found in this study. Though there has a lot of scopes to publish investigative news on cybersecurity. In most cases, the practices of newspapers press-release journalism. Steps and statements from different offices were just published by the newspaper. There have lots of issues to investigate regarding cybersecurity like; hacking and tracking, information leaking, and user’s security. Only five investigative news items were published.
Most of the News is Event-Driven
Most of the news was published after happening the event. Total 37 news items were event-driven out of 59 news items. Prothom Alo and Kaler Kantho both published approximately the same percentage of news items. Prothom Alo published 61% event-driven news whether Kaler Kantho published 65%. This percentage means that no newspaper gives much importance to cybersecurity news this is why they had a very poor number of interpretative, investigative, and advocacy news. Most of the spaces in cybersecurity pages were occupied by event-driven news items.
Conclusion
These newspapers had special pages for publishing cybersecurity-related news stories, and obviously cybersecurity based news stories were also published in a good number, but it is a matter of dissatisfaction that quality news stories found in very poor numbers. Most of the news stories were event driven news items, very less number were investigative, interpretative, and advocacy news items. A high number of the news was collected from foreign newspapers and news agencies which also had no relevance to its prime readers who are Bangladeshi people. On the other hand, Kaler Kantho published a huge number of news stories where they mentioned the source only the word ‘Internet’. The number of presenting pictures with news stories was in very satisfactory number. It would be better if we could analyze the content of pictures that have been published.
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