Mahfuz Anam, editor and publisher of The Daily Star, says journalism in Bangladesh is now overshadowed by fear, where even slight deviation from dominant narratives can trigger attacks.
Speaking to Al Jazeera’s The Listening Post, he said, “Today, we have far more free mainstream media, more investigative stories. Independent thinking is definitely much more prominent than before. But that overriding fear — that if I slightly deviate from the present popular narrative, I might be attacked — also exists.”
“To tell you frankly, we sometimes think very carefully, should I use this word or that word? This sort of thinking, which is against the culture of independent media, also exists, now,” he added.
Recalling the arson attack on The Daily Star, he said those who set fire to the building were unlikely to be readers. “So what motivated them?” he asked, adding, “I think it was well planned. They had their political motivation, financial motivation, and there was also the idea of demolishing the tradition of liberal journalism, journalism that supports democracy, multiplicity of views, and dissent, in a very big way.”
“Our reporting, if it is flawed, somebody can say it. We can be criticised. But to burn us down, I think this is most unfortunate.”
The Daily Star editor described the night of the attack as “absolute panic.” Staff struggled to breathe, he said, adding “I was talking to the newsroom over the phone, and they were telling me, ‘Mahfuz Bhai, we may not meet again’.”
They were ringing their parents, their wives, their friends, saying maybe they will never meet again, he told Al Jazeera.
Mahfuz Anam observed that while social media has given Bangladeshis a platform to speak, it has also unleashed “a huge amount of fake news, hate speech, [and] unsubstantiated accusations.”
According to him, political parties have exploited this by creating “social media teams.” He said, “So if you say anything against this particular political party, suddenly hundreds of people will start abusing you. And if you say something nice, again hundreds of people can start praising you. The political use of social media is very much in vogue.”
He recalled that during the attack, “It is well known to anybody who followed social media that night that there was one influencer who said, ‘Prothom Alo is down, now go to Daily Star and attack this’.”
“They were trying to destroy us as an institution. And by the way, all the criticism that has been made against us has not been substantiated. Sometimes we were cited totally out of context. So it has been a very deliberate, very powerful, and, I must say, sadly effective way of continuing to denigrate two powerful mainstream media of Bangladesh,” he continued.
He warned that politicisation of journalism has eroded trust. Reporters increasingly align with parties, he said adding, “So imagine that when the public sees that a journalist who is supposed to tell me the truth actually belongs to a political party, the credibility of that media outlet, the belief of the readers of a paper or viewers of a television, suffers greatly because of the political division within the journalist community.”
The editor added that after three flawed elections, the public now approaches a fourth with strong expectations for a genuine vote. “Whoever gets elected, they will not forget the fact about the fall of Hasina. And her fall was directly linked with the oppressive nature of her government, and her government’s treatment of the media,” he said.
Reflecting on Sheikh Hasina’s 15 years in power, Mahfuz Anam told Al Jazeera it was “epitomised by one act, which was called the Digital Security Act. This encapsulates the government’s total dominance of dissent. They had 20 provisions for punishment, 14 of which were non-bailable. So, the whole idea was to create an environment of fear. Society goes into a total period of silence.”
“I have had 83 cases launched against me by Hasina. Matiur Rahman, the editor of Prothom Alo, had a murder case allegation against him. Our advertisements were stopped, and our revenue dropped by about 40 to 45 percent. None of my reporters were ever allowed to cover the prime minister’s events, and she personally attacked me on the floor of the parliament,” he explained.
Despite this, he expressed optimism that the experience will shape future governments and pave the way for a free press in Bangladesh.
