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The future of Bangladesh’s fragile media freedom

Under Mohammad Yunus’s interim government, a Media Reform Commission has set out to address long-standing problems facing journalists in Bangladesh – but old threats and patterns of control remain

By Cyrus Naji
Four men standing in a row holding protest signs in Dhaka. The man in the centre holds a sign that reads 'JOURNALISM IS NOT C
A 2023 demonstration in Dhaka for the release of Shamsuzzaman Shams, a Prothom Alo reporter arrested for an article on rising food prices. The Media Reform Commission created by Bangladesh’s interim government has set out to fix the problems hobbling journalistic freedom, but the tools of repression from the Sheikh Hasina era are still very much intact.
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SINCE SHEIKH HASINA was overthrown in August 2024, the Bangladeshi media has entered an uncertain new phase. The biggest threat to the media – Hasina’s dictatorship – may no longer be there, but a climate of repression and self-censorship built up over decades is taking a long time to die. The newspaper editor Mahfuz Anam described the situation as “slippery”, adding that “journalism in Bangladesh has to navigate a very dangerous course, with forces we don’t know.”

A Media Reform Commission recently delivered its report to the chief advisor to Bangladesh’s interim government, Mohammad Yunus; that report has set out to address long-standing threats to media freedom in Bangladesh. These include inadequate legal protections, monopolistic ownership and a lack of effective regulation. The commission has addressed those conditions, filling the gaps that have historically left journalists vulnerable. It has recommended a comprehensive set of measures, which, if implemented, would go a long way towards ensuring a free press in Bangladesh. It has provided an invaluable blueprint, at least parts of which can be enacted immediately.

Bangladesh has made sincere attempts at media reform before, in 1984 and 1996, but those fell victim to the failure of the country’s institutions. The future of its media will therefore depend on how durable the Yunus government’s reforms prove to be. In the meantime, the old vulnerabilities persist as old patterns prove difficult to shake off.

IN THE PAST, the country’s media ecosystem has prioritised volume over quality: there are today over 50 daily newspapers and 42 news channels in Bangladesh. A small number of these outlets produce accurate, objective journalism, and operate on a financially sustainable business model. Examples include the country’s two largest newspapers, the Bengali-language Prothom Alo and the English-language Daily Star – both owned by the same business conglomerate, the Transcom Group – which have generally sought to uphold independent, ethical journalism, although they still have detractors on all sides of the country’s consistently fractious politics. Perhaps most remarkable is the fact that both newspapers deliver a profit: they and their editors are consistently the highest taxpayers in the media sector.