English-language daily newspaper in Bangladesh
The Daily Star
is a Bangladeshi English-language daily newspaper. It is by far the largest circulating English-language newspaper in the country.
[2]
Founded by
Syed Mohammed Ali
on 14 January 1991, as Bangladesh transitioned and restored
parliamentary democracy
,
[3]
[4]
the newspaper became popular for its outspoken coverage of
politics
, corruption, and
foreign policy
. It is considered a
newspaper of record
for Bangladesh.
[5]
[6]
The newspaper has been described as having a "reputation for journalistic integrity and liberal and progressive views - a kind of Bangladeshi
New York Times
".
[7]
Mahfuz Anam
serves as the editor and publisher of
The Daily Star.
The Daily Star
is owned by Mediaworld, in which a major share is held by the
Transcom Group
.
[8]
Star Business,
the business edition of the paper, is highly popular. The newspaper serves its Bengali readership digitally through its website. It is highly active in social media as well including in Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. The newspaper's multimedia news contents are widely followed through its YouTube channel @TheDailyStarNews.
History
[
edit
]
In the late 1980s, plans for a major English newspaper in Bangladesh were drawn up by Syed Mohammad Ali and Mahfuz Anam in
Bangkok
. Ali previously served as Editor of
The Bangkok Post
in
Thailand
and the
Hong Kong Standard
in
British Hong Kong
. Anam was working in
UNESCO
when he teamed up with Ali to establish a newspaper in Bangladesh. They secured funding from leading Bangladeshi financiers, including Azimur Rahman, A. S. Mahmud,
Latifur Rahman
, A. Rouf Chowdhury and Shamsur Rahman.
[9]
The newspaper was set up in 1991, which coincided with Bangladesh's return to parliamentary democracy after 15 years of military rule and presidential government.
The Daily Star
gained popularity for its outspoken coverage of politics in Bangladesh, including the rivalry between the
Awami League
led by
Sheikh Hasina
and the
Bangladesh Nationalist Party
(BNP) led by
Khaleda Zia
. It became the country's largest circulating English-language newspaper and quickly overtook
The Bangladesh Observer
and
Weekly Holiday
. It gained a wide readership in
Dhaka
and
Chittagong
, particularly among the urban elites, the business community and the
diplomatic community
.
In 2007,
The Daily Star
editor Mahfuz Anam called out army chief General
Moeen U Ahmed
for suggesting political reforms, arguing that it was beyond the mandate of the army chief to speak about politics.
[10]
In a widely read commentary titled "This is no way to strengthen democracy", Anam also blasted the military-backed caretaker government for the arrest of Sheikh Hasina in 2007.
[11]
In 2009, an
investigative report
by
The Daily Star
implicated former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's son
Tarique Rahman
and close aides from
Hawa Bhaban
in the
2004 Dhaka grenade attack
.
[12]
Tarique Rahman was later sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the attack.
[13]
In 2015, the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina suspended all tender notices and government adverts in
The Daily Star
as a pressure tactic because government advertisements generate a significant share of revenue for the newspaper; this suspension was later lifted.
[14]
In 2021, a commentary by Mahfuz Anam criticized army chief General
Aziz Ahmed
for controversial remarks in which Aziz suggested that criticizing the army chief was tantamount to criticizing Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
[15]
On 22 April 2022, Anam wrote a commentary titled "Can we really have a free and fair election?" in which he lamented Bangladesh's democratic backsliding.
[16]
Throughout 2022 and 2023, Anam wrote a series of articles on the importance of free and fair elections, press freedom, the
Digital Security Act
(which was repealed), the role of the bureaucracy, political history, political parties and the
Bangladesh Election Commission
.
[17]
[18]
[19]
[20]
[21]
Staff
[
edit
]
Only two years after launching the newspaper, SM Ali died and a young Anam, who was Ali's protege, became the editor of the fledgling daily. As editor and publisher, Anam has been widely credited for steering the paper's editorial independence. Financial affairs are overseen by a six-member board of directors of the
holding company
Mediaworld Limited.
Syed Fahim Munaim
was the CEO and Managing Editor of the newspaper for many years.
[22]
Munaim was credited for ensuring the financial independence of paper. Ahead of the 2024 general election, the paper hired several pro-BNP journalists and writers, took an aggressively pro-BNP editorial stance, and strongly criticized the ruling Awami League. The election ended up being boycotted by the BNP amid allegations of a lack of a conducive environment for holding elections. In 2023, Anam was appointed chairman of the holding company of The Daily Star after the death of longstanding chairperson
Rokeya Afzal Rahman
. Syed Ashfaqul Haque, who worked in both management and the newsroom for 31 years, was appointed as Executive Editor.
Aasha Mehreen Amin
, the granddaughter of Pakistan's last Bengali premier
Nurul Amin
, serves as the Joint Editor while S.S. Preetha is head of the
Op-Ed
section, which was previously headed by
Zafar Sobhan
.
[23]
Amin continues to wield significant influence over commentaries and Op-Eds. Amin previously ran the paper's defunct
Star
magazine supplement. Mizanur Rahman, the Head of Operations, and Tajdin Hasan, the Chief Business Officer, are the two other key leaders of the newspaper.
Controversies
[
edit
]
In recent years, the paper has complained of growing restrictions on
press freedom
in Bangladesh.
[24]
It also faced pressure from the government which affected its ad revenues.
[14]
Lawsuits from Awami League and BNP members
[
edit
]
PEN America
strongly criticized the lawsuits filed against Mahfuz Anam, including as many as 83 lawsuits and 30 counts of criminal defamation lodged by members and supporters of the
Awami League
.
[25]
During the
Bangladesh Nationalist Party
government in the 2000s, Anam faced defamation lawsuits from ruling BNP leaders. He was co-accused with
Matiur Rahman
, editor of the Bengali newspaper
Prothom Alo
, in defamation cases filed by
Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury
. Anam was represented in court by
Kamal Hossain
.
DGFI leaks
[
edit
]
In 2016, speaking at a panel discussion on
ATN News
,
Mahfuz Anam
admitted that
The Daily Star
ran stories fed to the newspaper by military intelligence outfit
DGFI
during the military-backed state of emergency and caretaker government in 2007 and 2008. The stories accused Awami League and BNP leaders of corruption.
[26]
A string of lawsuits were filed against Anam following his admission.
Website blocked
[
edit
]
The newspaper's website was briefly blocked on 1 June 2018 after it reported the
extrajudicial
killing of Ekramul Haque
by members of the
Rapid Action Battalion
.
[27]
The killing took place while the victim was speaking with his family on the phone. The
Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission
(BTRC) did not give any explanation for the block.
Child abuse by staff
[
edit
]
In February 2024, Executive Editor Syed Ashfaqul Haque and his wife Tania Khondoker were sent to jail after they surrendered to a court in Dhaka, following the death of a fifteen year old female maid at their house in
Mohammadpur Thana
.
[28]
[29]
Haque and his wife faced charges of
child abuse
. The deceased maid was a teenage girl named Preeti Urang who worked as a servant in the house of the executive editor. Urang hailed from a tea garden worker's family in
Moulvibazar District
. Protests were held demanding justice for the girl's death.
[30]
[31]
The newspaper issued a formal apology over the incident.
[32]
Other publications
[
edit
]
Starting in May 1996,
The Daily Star
published a weekly magazine supplement titled
The Star
every Friday.
Aasha Mehreen Amin
was the first editor of the magazine and continued in that capacity for 18 years.
[33]
The Star
became
Star Weekend
.
[34]
Elita Karim
was the magazine's editor from 2015 to 2017.
Star Weekend
ceased publication on 29 November 2019, as
The Daily Star
downsized to adapt to a changing media landscape.
[35]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
????? ?????? ?????? ???????? ??????? ??????????? ????? ???????? ?????? ?????? ? ???????? ???
(PDF)
.
dfp.portal.gov.bd
(in Bengali).
Bangladesh Government
.
Archived
(PDF)
from the original on 2 October 2022
. Retrieved
2 October
2022
.
- ^
Newspaper Trends: Bangladesh
Archived
19 March 2009 at the
Wayback Machine
, World Advertising Research Center. Retrieved 14 September 2007.
- ^
"Remembering Syed Mohammad Ali"
.
The Daily Star
. 17 October 2007. Archived from
the original
on 31 December 2013
. Retrieved
28 December
2013
.
- ^
"SM Ali's World"
.
Southbound.com.my
. Archived from
the original
on 24 September 2015
. Retrieved
25 December
2016
.
- ^
Roy, Anupam Debashis (January 2020).
Not All Springs End Winter
. Adarsha. p. 144.
ASIN
B097ZL8NFW
.
Reports on the demands of the students that were published on the Daily Star, often considered Bangladesh's newspaper of record, ....
- ^
Sklair, Leslie (May 2022).
The Anthropocene in Global Media: Neutralizing the risk
.
Routledge
.
ISBN
978-0367641993
.
Bangladesh: The first and most articles (19) appear in The Daily Star, often considered the newspaper of record.
- ^
"
'Attempt to crush independent media' in Bangladesh"
.
BBC News
. 18 February 2016.
Archived
from the original on 27 August 2022
. Retrieved
27 August
2022
.
- ^
"Welcome to Transcom"
.
Transcom
. Archived from
the original
on 3 December 2013.
- ^
"Column by Mahfuz Anam: Snapshots from the past, thoughts for the future"
.
The Daily Star
(Opinion). 12 February 2021.
Archived
from the original on 27 August 2022
. Retrieved
27 August
2022
.
- ^
"How can national interest be served best?"
.
bdnews24.com
.
Archived
from the original on 11 October 2022
. Retrieved
11 October
2022
.
- ^
"This is no way to strengthen democracy"
.
The Daily Star
. 8 February 2016.
Archived
from the original on 11 October 2022
. Retrieved
11 October
2022
.
- ^
"It was Hawa Bhaban plot"
.
The Daily Star
. 26 October 2009.
Archived
from the original on 11 October 2022
. Retrieved
11 October
2022
.
- ^
Riaz, Ali (29 April 2022).
"Bangladesh's Quiet Slide into Autocracy"
.
Foreign Affairs
.
Archived
from the original on 11 October 2022
. Retrieved
11 October
2022
.
- ^
a
b
"Bangladeshi spies accused of blocking media adverts"
.
Al Jazeera
.
Archived
from the original on 17 August 2022
. Retrieved
27 August
2022
.
- ^
"Column by Mahfuz Anam: Some comments require clarification"
.
The Daily Star
. 19 February 2021.
Archived
from the original on 11 October 2022
. Retrieved
11 October
2022
.
- ^
Anam, Mahfuz (22 April 2022).
"Commentary by Mahfuz Anam: Can we really have a free and fair election?"
.
The Daily Star
. Retrieved
20 February
2024
.
- ^
"Mahfuz Anam"
.
The Daily Star
. 1 February 2015
. Retrieved
1 March
2024
.
- ^
Anam, Mahfuz (29 July 2022).
"CEC hits the nail on the head, but the wrong nail"
.
The Daily Star
. Retrieved
1 March
2024
.
- ^
Anam, Mahfuz (20 May 2022).
"Column by Mahfuz Anam: Why are there so many laws against free media?"
.
The Daily Star
.
- ^
Anam, Mahfuz (27 January 2023).
"Column by Mahfuz Anam: Who runs the country?"
.
The Daily Star
. Retrieved
1 March
2024
.
- ^
Anam, Mahfuz (2 February 2024).
"Column by Mahfuz Anam: Death of the opposition in parliament"
.
The Daily Star
. Retrieved
1 March
2024
.
- ^
"A Tribute To Syed Fahim Munaim"
.
The Daily Star
. 2 August 2016
. Retrieved
20 February
2024
.
- ^
"State of Shock"
.
Economic and Political Weekly
. 14 March 2009.
- ^
"Bangladesh Press Council: Is the protector turning into a 'predator'?"
.
The Daily Star
. 26 August 2022.
Archived
from the original on 27 August 2022
. Retrieved
27 August
2022
.
- ^
"Bangladesh: Defamation Charges Against Editor Representative of Broader Attacks on Media"
. 18 February 2016.
Archived
from the original on 27 August 2022
. Retrieved
27 August
2022
.
- ^
"Daily Star Editor Mahfuz Anam admits to publishing DGFI-fed baseless stories"
.
bdnews24.com
.
Archived
from the original on 5 April 2016
. Retrieved
28 October
2016
.
- ^
"Star blocked, unblocked"
.
The Daily Star
. 3 June 2018.
Archived
from the original on 23 August 2018
. Retrieved
23 August
2018
.
- ^
"Preeti Urang's death: 4-day remand granted for The Daily Star executive editor, wife"
.
The Business Standard
. 13 February 2024
. Retrieved
20 February
2024
.
- ^
"Journalist Ashfaqul, wife Tania land in jail over death of domestic worker"
.
bdnews24.com
. Retrieved
20 February
2024
.
- ^
"Demand for justice grows as tea workers protest domestic worker Preeti's death"
.
The Business Standard
. 12 February 2024
. Retrieved
20 February
2024
.
- ^
"Daily Star urged to take action against Ashfaq"
.
New Age
. Retrieved
20 February
2024
.
- ^
"Editor's note to readers"
.
The Daily Star
. 16 February 2024
. Retrieved
20 February
2024
.
- ^
Amin, Aasha Mehreen
(29 November 2019).
"Why we need weekend magazines"
.
The Daily Star
.
Archived
from the original on 5 June 2023
. Retrieved
5 June
2023
.
- ^
Hossain, Anika (5 June 2015).
"Saying Goodbye"
.
The Daily Star
.
Archived
from the original on 5 June 2023
. Retrieved
5 June
2023
.
- ^
Preetha, Sushmita S. (29 November 2019).
"Change is the only constant"
.
The Daily Star
.
Archived
from the original on 5 June 2023
. Retrieved
5 June
2023
.
External links
[
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]