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With so many newspapers coming into the scene every morning the readers are virtually bombarded with news items from all over the country.
   Though we admit that the sector of journalism has advanced a lot and with exceptional amount of press freedom, there remains the matter of how the reports presented are being taken in by the people.
   Over the years through a process of metamorphosis the whole presentation of news has changed and now in a new millennium news is often hyped up, sensationalised and even fabricated to catch attention.
   To what extent this practice is immoral is a different issue but, just talking to the readers about news items is often enough to get an idea about what they are thinking. So, with this view the programme Public Reaction from Channel-i came to us and as it celebrates one year, readers of newspapers and those interested to know what is happening in the country are unanimous in agreeing upon its necessity as a kind of watch dog.
   Public Reaction is a programme that goes out and asks the general people theiropinion about a certain news item and as it takes different views on one particular topic, that report or news item gets a first hand reader assessment.
   Aired every day the team behind the programme comprises of Reaz Hossain Sumon, Mamun Karim (editing), Asad and Monu Mian (camera), Roksana Eva and Sultana Kona (presentation) and Abdus Sattar (direction).
   Though the programme has become popular both in and outside the country, many are of the opinion that along with asking the general people the show should also knock at people’s homes and get the viewpoints of the middle-class.

Though most of the singers are newcomers in the field of music, their performance at the Showkat Osman auditorium of Central Public Library was splendid. The audience responded with appreciation by applauding after every performance.
   Geetisatra, a cultural group organised a musical soiree on Tuesday. The singers of the organisation presented songs of Rabindranath Tagore in drupad, dhamar, toppa and kheyal. Some of the songs were Aji momo mon chahey jiban bandhurey, Bajao tumi kabi, Nitya satya chintan karo re and Sada thako anandey.
   At the beginning of the programme, Wahidul Haque, a Rabindra sangeet exponent, discussed on the performance of Tagore songs.
   Sanjay Roy, director of the organisation along with Musarrat Zarrin Mishu, Sraboni Majumder, Orno Kamalika, Nila Saha, Shukhla Pal and others performed at the soiree. Anamul Haque Omar was on the tabla, Almas Ali on the violin, and Morshedul Islam was on the key-board.

Bangladesh born Liakat Hossain, currently living in Sweden, recently received a Swedish literary prize for his outstanding contribution in translating literary works of Bangladesh and Sweden.
   Anna von Essen, President of the prize committee, and Peter Ahlström, Vice-president of the prize committee, formally handed over the prize money during a function held at King’s palace, Sollentuna in Sweden.
   Currently, Liakat works for the Swedish government and is publishing a literary journal in Bengali called ‘Parikrama’.
   He is also working for bringing out an anthology of Bengali poems in Swedish. It will feature some 25 poets of Bengali literature, including Rabindranath Tagore, Jibonanda Das, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Shamsur Rahman, Abu Jafar Obaidullah, Al Mahmud, Nirmalendu Goon, Mahadev Saha, Rafiq Azad, Muhammad Nurul Huda and others.

Chitrali, a local art school, organized an eight day long painting exhibition at the District Collectorate School auditorium. The event began on Sunday.
   Md Haris Uddin, Deputy Commissioner of Magura, inaugurated the exhibition as the chief guest. Sheikh Maruf Hasan, Superintend of Police, Magura and Bashudev Ganguali, Additional District Magistrate were present as special guests in the inaugural function. Khan Ziaul Haque and artist Biswajit Biswas Bapi spoke among others.
   Thirty primary students participated at the art exhibition with a total of 300 paintings.

Television Viewers’ Forum organised a prize giving ceremony of Television Viewers’ Award 2003 at the Osmani Memorial Hall on December 29. Prizes were handed over through a viewers’ poll.
   Alamgir Kabir, State Minister for Housing and Public Works, ANM Ehsanul Hoque, State Minister for Education, Mahfuzur Rahman, Chairman of ATN Bangla, Rafiquzzaman, Chairman of the jury board of the event, Imtiaj Hossain Chapol and Shafiul Azam, president and secretary of the TVF were present at the ceremony and spoke on the occasion.
   The Life Time Achievement Award went to Razzak and Kabari Sarwar for film, poet Shamsur Rahman for literature, Jewel Aich for magic, Abdullah Abu Sayed for presentation, Abdur Rahman Boyati for baul songs, Rahiza Khanam Jhunu for dance, Nuruzzaman Sheikh for lyric, Anwar Parvez for music direction and Abdul Aziz for radio performance.
   Besides this honour, some more awards went to Kazi Hayat, Chashi Nazrul Islam, Manna, Moushumi, Poppy, Rajib (posthumous), Salahuddin Lobhlu, Srabonti, Mahfuz Ahmed and many others.

Santa didn’t deliver this year for Renee Zellweger. While the rumor mill had the Oscar winner poised to become Mrs. Jack White before the New Year dawned, she’s now back on the market, with her rep confirming to People that she and the White Stripes rocker have once again called it quits.
   The mouthpiece claims the low-profile couple went belly-up in September, and follows standard celebrity split operating procedure by adding that they “remain good friends. No scandal. No new relationships.”
   The “Bridget Jones” star reportedly spent a traditional Christmas with her family, celebrating the birth of the baby Jesus by watching Shaq take on Kobe during the Los Angeles Lakers-Miami Heat game in L.A.
   Renee, 35, met White, 29, on the rural Romanian set of “Cold Mountain” in mid-2003, and since then they’ve maintained a light bulb relationship — on-again and off-again.
   Breakup talk hit a fever pitch in early October when Zellweger told the London Sun, “There’s nobody else in my life right now. I’m just not interested at the moment. You know, I’m always on a set or on a plane but we’ll see.”
   At the time, her publicist insisted the tight-lipped twosome were doing “fine,” and before long talk began to swirl that Renee was set to ditch L.A. for White’s hometown of Detroit.
   In November, Zellweger dismissed the persistent rumors of a Christmas wedding, telling Us, “I’m not engaged and I’ve never been engaged,” although she did talk wistfully of taking me-time in 2005 to be “just a girl.” The actress will be able to follow through on her plans — albeit as a swinging singleton — as she has no film projects on the horizon.

Sly Stallone has found a winner in "D-Tox,' This thriller is intense, well-acted and true to its promise of delivering the scares. The story centers on Jake Malloy (Stallone) an FBI agent who hits the bottle after a serial killer case goes tragically wrong. His partner Charlie Hendricks (Dutton) finds him a special detox center for cop addicts in a remote Wyoming town. Everything seems to be going nicely as Jake appears to be on the road to recovery. But his past soon catches up as the serial killer returns and begins killing off the other patients, one by one. Can Malloy find out who the killer is and stop him before he becomes the next victim?
   HBO
   9:30pm
   Starring
   Sylvester Stallone, Charles Dutton, Polly Walker, Robert Patrick