Editors’ Council President Nurul Kabir today described attacks on the offices of The Daily Star and Prothom Alo as “sustained, organised violence,” alleging once again that the government either allowed the incidents or failed to prevent them.
Speaking at a dialogue on “Media Reform in Bangladesh: Between Freedom, Responsibility and Power” organised by the Centre for Governance Studies at the CIRDAP auditorium, the New Age editor referred to the incident in which Daily Star journalists were trapped inside the office while fire was set outside.
“This was not spontaneous. This was organised,” he said, adding that the inability of the fire service to reach the scene reflected an alarming breakdown of state responsibility.
Nurul Kabir rejected claims by Chief Adviser’s Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam that his allegations were unsupported by evidence.
“His own statement is the evidence,” he said, citing Shafiqul’s Facebook post in which he said that he sought government assistance throughout the night but received none.
“If the chief adviser’s press secretary cannot get help when major media houses are under attack, it means the government allowed this to happen,” Nurul Kabir argued.
He emphasised that journalism in a democratic society must remain inherently critical of power.
“Journalism that does not oppose is public relations. The job of democratic journalism is to check power, no matter who is in office,” he said.
Nurul Kabir stressed that press freedom is not solely for journalists, but it pertains to the people as well, enabling public opinion to exert pressure for democracy.
On journalists' rights, Nurul Kabir highlighted the importance of job security and wage protection for journalists, saying that failure to implement the wage board award was not only the government’s responsibility but also that of media house owners.
He called for transparency and a code of conduct for both journalists and media house owners.
Nurul Kabir cautioned that without collective resistance and professional unity, democratic journalism cannot survive.
“This is a national intellectual crisis,” he said.
