In a sense, that was the beginning of the practice of freedom of the press in Bangladesh. We thought that along with the restoration of democracy, good winds have blown on journalism as well. But in a country where a law can be made to protect the murderers of a leader like Bangabandhu and a head of state, anything is possible. In the 33 years of our restored democracy, the state’s treatment of the press has been deplorable.
Journalists were tortured, tortured and even killed in every possible way. Many newspapers and television channels have been shut down. The gradual trend for such behavior has been the same. The victims of such repression or prohibitions have either put the governments in the circle of criticism with their journalism or the government considers them to be of the opposition camp.
The BNP (Bangladesh Nationalist Party) shut down the hugely popular Ekushi Television, the Awami League shut down the anti-government newspaper Amar Desh. In this respect, there is a closeness in mindset between the Awami League and BNP governments.
He was about to shut down news outlets. Party activists, on the other hand, are used to launching strikes and filing cases to strictly control investigative journalism and criticism of the government. The imposition and enforcement of repressive laws one after the other has created an extremely dangerous environment. There is no hesitation in using the law to harass and abuse journalists and the news media.
In May 2021 in this independent country, the Official Secrets Act was invoked against Prothom Alo’s journalist Rozina Islam, which was implemented during the colonial rule to punish the colonized subjects. And to suppress journalism, the most dangerous Digital Security Act was enacted during the regime of the present government. Then there are digital, social media and OTT regulations, data protection laws and news media activism in the pipeline. The media and human rights activists have already expressed their apprehensions about the repressive clauses of these laws.
