The Editors’ Council on Wednesday strongly protested at ‘unwarranted’ and ‘sweeping’ allegations made against the media at a conference organised by Jatiya Jubashakti, the youth front of the National Citizen Party.
In a statement, the council said that some speakers at the ‘National Youth Conference 2025’ on Tuesday made a set of allegations on a wholesale basis, saying that ‘the media is trying to assassin characters of those involved in the mass uprising’ and is acting ‘like the mouthpiece of intelligence agencies as it did during Sheikh Hasina’s autocratic rule.’
The mass uprising ousted the authoritarian Awami League regime on August 5, 2024.
Rejecting the allegations against the media, the Editors’ Council, a platform of editors of different newspapers, urged all parties to make fact-based and responsible statements.
The statement, signed by its president and The Daily Star editor Mahfuz Anam and its general secretary and Daily Bonik Barta editor Dewan Hanif Mahmud, said that most print media outlets played a vital role during the past year’s student-people mass uprising in the country.
During the Awami League’s 15-year rule, editors and journalists faced various forms of repression, harassment and persecution, it noted.
The statement said that courageous media coverage brought to light the murders by the state forces, human rights violations, internet blackouts and other critical issues during the uprising.
‘In particular, the majority of print media fearlessly presented facts that helped shape public opinion in favour of the movement amid threats and intimidation,’ the statement said.
It said that even under the interim government led by Professor Muhammad Yunus, most of the print media had continued to play a constructive role in building a democratic state, upholding the aspirations of the July uprising and highlighting the government’s limitations to the public.
