On a Saturday in Dhaka, the corridors of Notre Dame College were filled with something more than the usual hum of students; they were alive with the energy of a national media carnival drawing to a close. The occasion was the closing ceremony of the Second National Media Carnival 2026, and the chief guest was Yasser Khan Choudhury, the State Minister for Information and Broadcasting. He did not use his time to deliver a standard speech of congratulations or political pleasantries. Instead, he offered a sobering message. In a world increasingly shaped by social media, he said, the spread of misinformation and disinformation has become an “ominous sign.” That phrase hung in the air, because it was not a dramatic exaggeration. It was an honest description of a problem that has unsettled democracies, toppled reputations, fueled communal tensions, and made it harder for ordinary people to know what is true. The minister urged the young people before him to remain aware and to play a responsible role in countering these falsehoods. It was not a casual plea. It was an acknowledgment that the same digital tools that connect students to each other and to the world are also being used to distort reality, manipulate public opinion, and undermine trust. He spoke directly to the student audience as the citizens who will shape Bangladesh’s future, asking them to be cautious and responsible. The scene was fitting: a media carnival is a celebration of communication, but communication without integrity is just noise, and sometimes something worse. As the minister put it, the challenge is to ensure that the next generation of communicators uses its power not to amplify confusion, but to build clarity. In an age where everyone is a publisher and every post can travel across the world in seconds, the office of information, the platform of social media, and the conscience of the individual user have all become deeply intertwined. The students listening to him, many of whom were aspiring journalists, filmmakers, and content creators, were being asked to carry that weight from the very beginning of their careers.
Yasser Khan Choudhury reminded the students that they belonged to a long and proud tradition of youthful leadership in Bangladesh. The student community, he said, has always played a pioneering role in nation-building, and he reserved particular praise for those who took part in the 2024 student-people’s movement. That movement, he insisted, would be written in golden letters in the history of the country. It was a powerful thing to say to a hall full of young people, because it told them that they are not just receivers of history; they are makers of it. The minister was drawing a direct line between the courage shown on the streets and the responsibility required on the screens. The student movement was driven, in part, by a hunger for truth, justice, and accountability. But in its wake, the information environment has become more complicated than ever. False stories, manipulated images, and fabricated audio clips can move faster than any correction or fact-check. The minister acknowledged that distinguishing between truth and falsehood has become one of the major challenges of the current era. In such a world, the old saying that “a lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes” has never felt more accurate. Some misinformation is spread unknowingly, by people who share what sounds plausible without verifying it. But disinformation is worse: it is deliberately manufactured and circulated to deceive, to divide, and to weaken trust in institutions and in one another. The minister’s speech carried an implicit warning: the very energy that made the student movement possible could be stolen and redirected by those who want to confuse, polarise, and destabilise. That is why he called the spread of misinformation an ominous sign. It is not just an annoying feature of online life; it is a threat to national unity, democratic debate, and collective sanity. And because students are among the most active users of social media, they are also among the most exposed—and, potentially, the most effective defenders of the truth.
The state minister did not stop at diagnosing the problem; he pointed toward a solution, and that solution was education in its deepest sense. It is very important, he said, for students to acquire media literacy and responsible communication skills. Those words may sound like academic jargon, but they carry urgent practical meaning. Media literacy is the ability to read not just the words on a screen, but the context, the source, the motive, and the method behind them. It means asking: Who created this? Why? What evidence is provided? Is this account reliable? Could the image have been altered? Is this headline designed to make me angry or afraid? Responsible communication, meanwhile, is the willingness to think before sharing, to avoid spreading rumors, to correct one’s own mistakes, and to insist on accuracy even when emotion is pulling in another direction. In a world of clicks, likes, and shares, these skills require discipline and moral courage. The minister’s remarks suggested that media literacy is not a niche subject for journalism students alone; it is a core requirement of citizenship in a modern society. A citizen who cannot distinguish between a verified report and a viral falsehood is more likely to be manipulated by those who exploit fear, anger, and prejudice. Conversely, a citizen who has learned to question, check, and reason is harder to deceive and harder to panic. That is why the National Media Carnival, with its workshops, competitions, discussions, and hands-on projects, is more than a festive event. It is a laboratory of democratic maturity. The minister’s advice to the students was not to abandon social media or to fear it, but to master it; to understand its grammar, its dangers, and its potential. He spoke of media literacy and responsible communication as essential skills for the future, alongside creativity, analytical thinking, and ethical judgment. Those are the qualities that cannot be automated or faked, and they are precisely the qualities that students can develop through sustained engagement with media and communication.
There was also a deeply personal dimension to the minister’s speech, and it humanised the entire occasion. Yasser Khan Choudhury had once been a student at Notre Dame College, and as he stood on the campus he had known in his youth, memories returned to him. He spoke openly about visiting the institution with his friends in the old days, and he admitted that many memories from that period had remained etched in his mind. Coming to the campus, he said, brought back many old memories. This was a rare and touching moment in an official address. It bridged the distance between authority and youth, between a government minister and the students in the audience. He was telling them, in effect, that he had once sat where they were sitting, that he had once walked these same halls, made the same kinds of friends, nursed the same kinds of hopes, and faced the same kinds of uncertainties. His life was proof that the path from a college campus to public service is not imaginary. But he did not turn his nostalgia into a lecture about the past. Instead, he used it to express hope for the future. He said he hoped that the regular organisation of such media carnivals would help students make further progress in creativity, analytical skills, and responsible citizenship. Those three things belong together. Creativity allows young people to imagine better ways of telling stories, solving problems, and reaching audiences. Analytical skills allow them to see through propaganda, half-truths, and comfortable lies. Responsible citizenship binds their talents to a larger purpose, reminding them that the point of knowledge is not personal advantage alone, but the common good. The minister was not just looking back at his own student days with affection; he was looking around the room and seeing the future of Bangladesh in the faces of the students. His hope, in that sense, was also a challenge: to live up to the opportunities they have been given and to guard the institutions and values that make those opportunities possible.
Yasser Khan Choudhury made it clear that his presence at the closing ceremony was not merely ceremonial. He spoke about the work of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, saying that it was continuously engaged with these issues under the directives of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman. This was an important signal. It connected a student media festival to national policy, and it suggested that the fight against misinformation is not something left to individual activists or journalists alone. The government, through its ministry and its leadership, was paying attention. The state minister also noted the prime minister’s deep interest in young people, and he promised that government support for such initiatives would continue in the future. That promise matters, because young people are often sceptical of politicians who appear at their events and then disappear. The minister’s statement offered a measure of reassurance that the engagement would not be a one-day photo opportunity. Support could take many forms: funding for student media clubs, mentorship programmes, training in investigative journalism, access to public data, scholarships for communications studies, and legal protections for free expression. Of course, words alone cannot solve the crisis of misinformation. What is needed is sustained institutional commitment, and the minister’s remarks suggested a willingness to make that commitment. He did not make wild promises or offer slogans in place of substance. He sounded like someone who understands that the information landscape is being reshaped in real time, and that official institutions must adapt or become irrelevant. For the students who had spent two days immersed in the craft of media, this was a validation of their interests and ambitions. It told them that what they were learning is not disconnected from the real world, but essential to it. It told them that national leaders are watching, not to control them, but to support them in the difficult task of truthful communication. In a time when trust in public institutions has eroded in many countries, the minister’s presence was a sign that at least some of those institutions were trying to listen, to engage, and to invest in a more informed generation.
The Second National Media Carnival was organised by the Notre Dame Media and Communication Club, and it took place over two days, on October 2 and 3. It was not a small, exclusive gathering. Students from different educational institutions across the country participated, making it a national meeting point for young people fascinated by media, communication, research, and creativity. The carnival served as a platform for developing skills that are often neglected in traditional classrooms: how to conduct an interview, how to write a compelling story, how to produce a video, how to design a campaign, how to think critically about sources, and how to present ideas clearly in public. These are essential skills for the modern age, and giving students a space to practise them is a valuable public service. The closing ceremony brought together a distinguished group of guests, including the Principal of Notre Dame College, Dr Father Hemanto Pius Rozario; Father Anthony Gomes Rozario; Shapla Banik, the Moderator of the Notre Dame Media and Communication Club; Rubayat Mannan Rafi, the Chairman of ‘The Bangladesh Dialogue’; Anisur Rahman Majumder, Vice President and Head of Financial Division of NCC Bank; Sazzad Hossain, CEO of China Education Bangladesh; and Simran Rahman of the Brand and Communication Department of the University of Scholars. Their presence reflected the wide cross-section of society—education, banking, corporate life, and civil society—that recognises the importance of investing in young people. But in the end, it was the state minister’s address that set the tone for the event. He did not just congratulate the students for their enthusiasm; he challenged them to take responsibility. The message, though wrapped in warmth and nostalgia, was stark: the information age is a battlefield, and the weapons are not bombs but bytes. Misinformation and disinformation are ominous signs, but they are not invincible. With media literacy, responsible communication, and a commitment to truth, the next generation can turn the tide. As the carnival closed and the students scattered back to their colleges and homes, they carried with them more than certificates, memories, and new friends. They carried a call to be both cautious and courageous, to question what they read and to share what they know to be true, and to remember that in a world full of noise, a clear mind and an honest voice are quiet but powerful acts of resistance.