Press Institute of Bangladesh

Press Institute of Bangladesh (PIB) established at Dhaka in 1976 through a Gazette notification by the government for providing in-service training to journalists and carrying out activities in research and publication on mass media. The Institute is governed by a 14-member board of directors headed by a chairman appointed by the government. The day to day functions of the Institute are carried out by an office with the director general as the executive head, who is also the member secretary of the board. The various sub-committees of the board include those on finance, recruitment, training and research, publications and provident fund. The three operational divisions of the institute are those on training, research, and features and publications. Also there is an administrative division. Each of these divisions is headed by a director.

PIB provides training to journalists working in newspapers and periodicals, news agencies, and radio and television, as well as to public relations officers and information officers of different organisations. It also organises seminars, symposiams and roundtable discussions on important issues in journalism.

From its inception in 1976 to January 2011, PIB organised 721 training courses/workshops/seminars. A total of 18,357 participants took part in these programmes. Of which female participants were 2,356. PIB completed 75 research projects during the same period. The institute has a clippings department, which preserves clippings of important news items published in print media. In 2011, the number of independent files to preserve clippings on different subjects was 265. PIB also has a Cyber Centre. The research and library department of PIB preserves old issues of important newspapers and periodicals and selected documents in microfilms. This department also compiles chronology of events in the national life of Bangladesh. PIB has a library with a collection of about 11,000 titles and the archive of the institute preserves copies of 22 newspapers and 22 periodicals on regular purchase-and-store basis.

PIB publishes a periodical (one in every two months) of the title Niriksha (observation) since 1980. During the period up to May 2001, the institute published 61 books and manuals on journalism and mass media. The features department of the institute prepares features on important issues, especially during observance of national days.

The role and importance of PIB is gradually increasing in the context of increased number of newspapers and periodicals and of the journalists to serve them. In January 2001, the number of registered newspapers and periodicals in the country was 581, of which 255 were dailies (94 published from Dhaka and the rest from other cities and towns), 217 were weeklies (108 from Dhaka) and the rest were bimonthlies, monthlies, quarterlies or other types. In this context, in addition to its regular training programmes, the institute introduced a one-year postgraduate diploma course in Journalism in 2001. A total of eight batches comprising 400 students have already taken Diploma in Journalism till the 2007-2008 session. [Shaikh Abdus Salam]