Bangladesh Daily Newspaper

Daily Press Briefing ...

QUESTION: Okay. And then also there was a report in a newspaper in Trinidad on Sunday -- I asked about this earlier -- hope you know about it -- saying that you guys and the Brits believed that there was an Islamic group, some sort of extremist Islamic group plotting attacks in Trinidad and Tobago around December 22nd. You obviously know nothing about this one. ... [Read More]

Bangladesh

On May 12, 2002, 12 unidentified persons broke the lock and opened the main gate of Dabua Benubon Bihar Buddhist Monastery at Beltoli before inmates and local residents chased them away. Using a compilation of newspaper reports, Ain-O-Shalish Kendra (The Law and Arbitration Center), a human rights NGO, filed a writ petition with the High Court asking that the Government be ordered to investigate the incidents reported in the newspapers and to submit its findings to the court. The Government submitted its report to the court in August stating that it had taken action against perpetrators of violence against members of the minority communities wherever such incidents took place. The Government report said investigations revealed that many of the reports were false or exaggerated. ... [Read More]

Bangladesh

Newspaper ownership and content are not subject to direct government restriction. However, if the Government chooses, it can influence journalists through financial means. Government-sponsored advertising and allocations of newsprint imported at a favorable tariff rate are central to many newspapers' financial viability. Government-sponsored advertising is the largest source of revenue for many newspapers. In allocating advertising through the Department of Films and Publications, the Government states that it considers circulation of the newspapers, wage board implementation, objectivity in reporting, coverage of development activities, and "attitude towards the spirit of Bangladesh's War of Liberation." In the past, commercial organizations often were reluctant to advertise in newspapers critical of the Government due to fear of government or bureaucratic retaliation; however, this appears to no longer be the case. ... [Read More]

Bangladesh

Public reaction to the High Court's 2001 ruling that fatwas were illegal resulted in violence. Following the court's decision, a number of NGOs organized a rally in Dhaka and transported busloads of persons, mostly women, from different parts of the country to express support for the ruling, which they said was a victory for women and for all who suffered abuses in the name of fatwa. However, Muslim groups contended that fatwas were an integral part of a Muslim's daily life and called the ruling an attack on their religious freedom. Islamist parties and the then-opposition BNP cited the ruling as an example of the Awami League government's "anti-Islam" attitude. Islamic groups organized blockades to prevent buses from entering Dhaka for the rally and protested the ruling and the NGO rally. In the ensuing violence, a police officer was killed inside a mosque, and an NGO office was ransacked. Subsequently, a case was filed and several persons were arrested for the murder. On ... [Read More]

Bangladesh

In June a leading English-language newspaper ran a story about three sons of M.P.'s who were allowed to leave the country after being implicated in criminal cases.  When the story was quoted in foreign newspapers, an official from the Prime Minister's Office pressured the newspaper's management to fire the author of the story.  The author resigned under pressure a few days later.  On August 6, a daily newspaper in Chittagong issued a notice retracting a story it had run the previous day, implying that a ruling party faction was involved in the July 12 murders of eight persons in a van (see Section 1.a.).  The reporter who authored the original story was fired.  According to press reports, the General Secretary of a local Awami League chapter declared at a public rally in Laxmipur on October 4, that he would "chop off the hands and legs" of journalists who continue to write about him (see Section 2.a.).  He threatened to "throw opposition activists into the ... [Read More]

Bangladesh

Newspaper ownership and content were not subject to direct government restriction; however, the Government was able to influence journalists because it sponsored advertising and allocated cheap newsprint, central to the viability of many newspapers. Unlike in previous years, commercial firms were not as reluctant to advertise in newspapers critical of the Government. The Government owned and controlled most radio and television stations, and most of these stations focused the bulk of their coverage on the Government. Opposition party news often received little coverage in the government-owned media. ... [Read More]

Bangladesh

Newspaper ownership and content were not subject to direct government restriction. However, the Government influenced journalists through financial means such as government advertising and allocations of newsprint imported at favorable tariff rates. The Government stated that it considered circulation of the newspapers, compliance with wage board standards, objectivity in reporting, and coverage of development activities as factors in allocating advertising. In the past, commercial firms often were reluctant to advertise in newspapers critical of the Government; however, this appeared no longer to be the case. ... [Read More]

Bangladesh

On July 5, the Government cancelled the publishing license of a Bangla language daily Dainik Uttarbanga Barta, published in Natore. The government action followed the publication of a March 26 article that referred to the current Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia as leader of the opposition and to former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina as the prime minister. The managing editor of the newspaper, who was also a local AL leader, apologized for what he claimed was an error due to incorrect data processing and a correction was published the following day. The newspaper management said that they would appeal against the Government's decision. ... [Read More]