It's a rare thing that a country's parliament is told by none other than the prime minister that its top newspaper is the enemy of the people. In utter disbelief, people heard last month that Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh's prime minister and head of the ruling Awami League, told parliament that "the daily Prothom Alo is the enemy of the Awami League, democracy, and the people of the country. I am saying with regret that they never want to permit any stability in this country."
Her unhappiness with the country's lone independent vernacular daily was already well known – she had barred its journalists from her office and public events in 2013, without giving any reason or making it official. Also, since Hasina returned to power in 2009, she and some of her cabinet had made a number of allegations against Prothom Alo – ranging from the newspaper siding with undemocratic forces to it creating instability and thwarting the government's development agenda. But the prime minister's declaration in parliament, on 10 April, was still a first, and marked an unprecedented escalation of her hostility. It also had special significance because of the occasion on which she spoke: a special session of Bangladesh's parliament to mark the 50th anniversary of its founding.
Hasina's attack on Prothom Alo sent shockwaves across Bangladesh's media industry and society. Many fear that Hasina's branding of Prothom Alo as the enemy of her party and the people will have a further chilling effect on the media, already cowed and constrained by her government. In many ways, and especially when it comes to media freedom, Prothom Alo is the last one standing among Bangladesh's mass media institutions. For Hasina, especially with a general election approaching, it is the ultimate target.
Her tirade followed a report on Prothom Alo's web portal on 26 March, the occasion of Bangladesh's 53rd Independence Day, in which a labourer named Zakir Hossain was quoted as saying, "[we] want the independence of [having] rice, meat and fish." As is common practice in the media, the news portal posted the story on social-media platforms. While posting on Facebook, it used a photocard with the quote clearly attributed to Zakir Hossain and a picture of a seven-year-old boy standing in front of the National Martyrs' Memorial. The post took minutes to go viral – Prothom Alo has 19 million-plus followers on Facebook, more than the national cricket team. Realising the photocard's ambiguity and the risks of misrepresentation, Prothom Alo quickly removed the post, dropped the photocard and republished the post with an explanation.