Uses of Right to Information (RTI) Act by Journalists in Promoting Accountability and Transparency in Public Services and NGOs

Motasim Billah, Muhammad Sehab Uddin

Abstract

The Right to Information (RTI) Act 2009 was enacted in Bangladesh to ensure free flow of information and peoples’ right to information. The law is the key to all others rights which truly empower the common people. RTI Act is considered as a milestone in Bangladesh’s democratic journey as peoples are the power of all sources. Being the part of the society, journalists can be the representative of common people in terms of using RTI Act for revealing information of public interest. Gathering information through RTI Act, a journalist can contribute to ensure transparency in public, professional, social and personal spheres. The study explores to find out trends of use of the law by journalists and major challenges they face using the act. Besides, how journalists promote accountability and transparency in public services and non-government organizations using RTI Act is also analyzed. In the study, Agency theory is applied to portray principal-agent relationship while survey is the main methodology here. This research utilized purposive sampling technique to select 25 respondents from Newspaper, Television and Online news portal. The study will contribute to represent tendency of use of RTI Act and how they promote transparency in the society using the act.

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