Bangladesh Is Now a Global Role Model in Media Freedom: Press Secretary
- Update Time : 08:08:01 am, Thursday, 26 June 2025
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Shafiqul Alam, Press Secretary to the Chief Adviser, claimed that the level of press freedom in Bangladesh surpasses even that of many developed countries. Speaking at a seminar titled “Freedom of the Media: Reviewing Legal Frameworks for Journalist Protection and Complaint Resolution” held at the CIRDAP auditorium in Dhaka on Thursday (June 26), he rejected the notion that Bangladeshi journalists lack freedom. According to him, the current administration has not imposed any restrictions or pressure on the media during the past ten months—unlike the practices during the previous Awami League regime.
At the same event, Badiul Alam Majumdar, a member of the National Consensus Commission, criticized the media landscape, stating that over the last 15 years, media disorder has helped justify illegitimate elections and enabled authoritarianism to take hold. He emphasized the vital role of the press in ensuring free and fair elections, describing it as the main tool for exposing irregularities and preventing electoral fraud.
Bobby Hajjaj, Chairman of the Nationalist Democratic Movement, stressed the need to separate media ownership from management and proposed a non-profit model to ensure genuine independence of the press.
M.A. Aziz, Editor-in-Chief of The Financial Post, added that journalists are increasingly traumatized due to both internal ownership dynamics and external pressures, including mob threats and other forms of intimidation that endanger their safety and work.
