Archive - Feb 22, 2013

Radical Islamist supporting the political group "Jaamat e Islam" rebelled against the Shahbagh uprising today. Clashes with the police injured many including media and newscasters. Islamist flooded the streets of Dhaka after the Friday prayers to vandalize and burn vehicles in protest of the movement for capital punishment for 1971 war criminals.

It is a matter of great regret and anguish that, with the up-rise of Shahbag generation, some news papers in Bangladesh are openly utilizing the power of press in creating unrest and anarchy in the country. The distortion of news to create sensation is not uncommon in Bangladesh. Many under-radar news papers and magazines exaggerate and twist facts to attract readers and to increase their circulation. This type of yellow journalism, although considered unprofessional and unethical, was overlooked from the freedom of press notion. But some recent media involvement in the prosecution of war criminals of 1971 war of independence, the attempt to manipulate prosecutorial process, the spreading of historical lies in favor of the charged war criminals, leaking insider information of the ongoing prosecution and finally defamation of the brutally killed blogger Rajib Haider through unsubstantiated, inciteful and dubious posts crossed all boundaries of decency, ethics or even legal limits.