I will leave all of my other work and give full time on writing: Muhammad Asadullah
- Farjana Akter
- September 6, 2022
Muhammad Asadullah is known as an entertainment journalist and writer. Nowadays, journalism is so available and everybody living around us is becoming more or less a journalist. With cheap headlines and adult pictures, there is no match between headlines and detailed news. This is the common scenario in our entertainment news.
Here, Muhammad Asadullah is different in his own way. When maximum journalism works are now clickbait, here he is unique in his own thoughts, work style and etc. Today we will talk with him not only about entertainment, but also about various issues around us. This interview is taken by Farjana Akter.
Women's Corner: How's your day during the pandemic period?
Muhammad Asadullah: Like others, my situation is also not reliving. It feels suffocating. I can't run and breathe properly. This morning suddenly I was missing my school life. That life was amazing. Most importantly our days in classes seven and eight were like a festival. And especially I like to mention the month of February to march. Between February to march, there were sports in the nearby schools and colleges. We cycled eight to ten kilos only to watch sports. I don't know anyone but my reaction was that my team was the winner. In March hot air would blow around sometimes. The leaves of mahogany trees flow like rain. We all discussed the new class, new teacher, new classmates, new friends, etc. Today's students missed this joy. They will never feel how beautiful our school life was! Some students will not get the experience of class eight, or nine in their life. This thinking hurt me. I am just waiting for when this bad situation will be over and I can breathe properly.
Women's Corner: Do you think entertainment journalists can give us proper entertainment news?
Muhammad Asadullah: To be very honest I am really disappointed. Except for some magazines/portals, everybody is running for clicks. They are not concerned about healthy entertainment news, we can say their work is like naughty entertainment news.
Women's Corner: What do you think entertainment journalism should look like?
Muhammad Asadullah: In other countries, entertainment news is published on page number three. After the first page and before the last page the most important page is number three. Page number three is an important word in the language of the magazine. There are two types of news in magazines. Hard news and soft news. Entertainment news is soft news. So, here soft news has less to do with other principles of journalism. With these opportunities, some journalists do whatever they want. But this is not actual journalism. Page number 3 is must-have fun, entertaining, and art news. We should not forget the basic principles of journalism.
Women's Corner: What's the main difference between journalists and journalism before and after?
Muhammad Asadullah: There is a huge difference. The working area in journalism is increased, but the quality of work is decreased. In the past reading, the news reader could not respond. Now the reader can respond instantly. If the news house gives priority to the reader's negative response, then the quality of news will be increased. But news houses need only reader engagement whether it is a positive engagement or negative engagement they don't care. Once we thought about journalists as they are news peddlers, but now maximum journalists are acting like they are news thieves. You see any news house publishes a Piece of unique news. Within ten minutes you will get the same news in all portals. They are not collecting any news, they stole news from other portals.
Women's Corner: As an entertainment journalist, how much score you will give yourself?
Muhammad Asadullah: Only 2.5! That means failure. I don't have any of the qualifications that an entertainment journalist has these days. Nowadays maximum entertainment journalists are busy building relationships with stars. They are busy taking selfies and posting them on social media. They think it makes a huge weight on the public about them. But common sense says if I have a deep relationship with any stars, then I can't write properly about them when they will make any mistakes.
Personally, I have never made any relationship with any stars. If the news is important and he/ she is my disliked person then I will publish the news. On the other hand, if the news is less important and he/she is my liked person then I will never publish the news. To me, the news is important not the person. For those traits, you can say I am not an entertainment journalist and I agree. Now you can ask me why I give 2.5 scores to myself. Actually, my well-wishers and even my enemies appreciate my writing. Very beginning of my carrier I got a boss who didn't like me. He tried hard to fire me. In my absence, he also appreciated my writing. That's why I give myself 2.5 scores.
Women's Corner: Give some advice to newcomers who wish to do entertainment journalism.
Muhammad Asadullah: A young age who wants to be an entertainment journalist should read the entertainment page from an early age. For newcomers there are many books about entertainment journalism, and they should read those books. If you are concerned about the present it's good, but you should also concerned about our golden past. Then you will get many benefits from the work.
Besides, he has to keep an eye on the world of entertainment he wants to work with. Never try to feel you know everything. You are just in the process. Best wishes to the newcomers and those who wished to join the entertainment family.
Women's Corner: As a writer say something about your own writing.
Muhammad Asadullah: First of all, I am a writer, the next journalist. To write we need to read more. But now the working pressure increased a lot and I can't read properly. If you write a book every year, you cannot call yourself a writer. You can call yourself a writer only when deep thinking, philosophy, and time come up together in your writing. I can't parallel maintain both writing and journalism. But someday maybe I will leave all of my other work and give full time to writing. Then I can say details about my own writing.
Women's Corner: Tell us something about the literary world from your own thinking.
Muhammad Asadullah: The current situation of literature is like an entertainment page. Writers are trying to give what readers want. They need only to sell their books, but what the books contain and quality readers feedback they don't care. Some writers are trying to do their best. They are actually doing great and writers should be like them.
Women's Corner: What's your future planning on writing and journalism?
Muhammad Asadullah: I have much planned for the future, but not sure if I get the future! Keep me in your prayers. If I can reach out in the future, then everyone will know what is in my planning and how much I have been able to implement.
Women's Corner: What's your view about the progress of women in our society? Are they getting their due privileges, and respect?
Muhammad Asadullah: Difficult to answer. The words respect, opportunity, and dignity is relative. It's different from man to man. The definition of those words is also different from man to man. In my personal opinion, as far as women have advanced, they have lagged behind the same way. Those who are talking about women's rights don't even know the demand of all sectors of women.
I could be wrong!
Women's Corner: Compared to the past, womens are getting more opportunities. Are they able to evaluate this opportunity properly?
Muhammad Asadullah: Most of the women are doing. Some are misusing and it's promotion people are doing hugely. At the same time, some bad intentional people are taking this opportunity. Those bad people are making many obstacles for the women who are trying to do something positive for themselves, society, and the country.
