Despite Yunus govt promises on press freedom, Bangladesh journalists face reporting minefields

Five months after the repressive Awami League government fell, with an interim administration preaching freedom of the press, some Bangladeshi media are producing critical coverage but others are censoring themselves, saying there is “an atmosphere of fear.” 

Media leaders and observers said those committing self-censorship are afraid of reprisals, including facing false murder complaints, losing their jobs, being defamed on social media or being accused as supporters of the old government.

Z.E. Mamun, a former chief executive of private TV station ATN Bangla, said some media outlets came under attack on Aug. 3, 2024, two days before the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina collapsed amid massive student-led protests.

“False murder cases were filed against a huge number of journalists after the downfall of the government,” Mamun told BenarNews, adding, “they have been tagged as collaborators of Sheikh Hasina.”

Mamun said he was named in a case linked to a killing in Dhaka on Aug. 5, the day Hasina left Bangladesh and fled to India. The complaint filed by citizens was lodged at the International Crimes Tribunal, which was established by Hasina’s Awami League to try people accused of war crimes during Bangladesh’s war of independence from Pakistan in 1971.

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Mamun said fears arise from the interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus “parroting” statements of the Students’ Movement against Discrimination – the group that spearheaded pro-democracy protests that led to Hasina’s downfall.

Shafiqul Alam, the press secretary for the interim government, rejected allegations by Mamun and others.

Along with being named in a murder complaint filed in August, Mamun lost his job two months later. He said he understood why many of those in the same boat as him had gone quiet – at least 140 journalists identified as being supporters of Hasina’s Awami League government, face murder complaints filed by citizens, according to official figures.

“They cannot discharge their professional responsibilities. They have been practicing self-censorship,” he said.

“If they had been collaborators, the government should investigate and find out what crimes they have committed. If proved beyond doubt, the authorities can take legal action against them,” Mamun said.

Instead, the interim government has cancelled journalists’ accreditations, sought information about their finances and frozen bank accounts, he alleged.

The Press Information Department cancelled accreditation cards, which facilitate access to the government offices, of 169 journalists since the fall of Hasina’s government.

A ‘prevailing’ fear

Sohel Haider Chowdhury, president of the Dhaka Union of Journalists, said almost all media outlets had terminated or sidelined journalists who were branded as “enablers of fascist Hasina,” while another group of journalists opposing the Awami League took over the key posts.

“The consequences are – one group is silent while another group is spreading negative activities of the previous government and hailing the interim government and the students by hiding the critical stories,” said Chowdhury, who like Mamun, faces murder complaints.

“I would say there is no direct intervention from the government, but an atmosphere of fear has been created. The journalists have been working in constant fear,” Chowdhury told BenarNews, adding that his and other journalism trade offices had been locked by the government.

“We cannot work,” he said.

Chowdhury said he has been named in four murder complaints filed by survivors of protesters who were killed in anti-Hasina protests in July and early August. While he said he had no details about the complaints, they all named Hasina as the top suspect.

Nazrul Islam Mithu, president of Overseas Correspondents Association Bangladesh, said there was no atmosphere for good journalism during Hasina’s regime, and this has carried over under the interim government.

“The government urges journalists to criticize them. But they are not ensuring conditions conducive to healthy journalism. An atmosphere of fear is prevailing,” Mithu told BenarNews.

“Anyone criticizing the government faces physical assault and harassment in public places, their houses are attacked. But no action from the government to prevent such recurrence is visible,” he said. 

Government response

Press secretary Alam pushed back against such assertions and said journalists were enjoying new freedoms under the Yunus administration.

“The interim government has not slapped any repressive laws or passed any administrative orders to muzzle the press as practiced by Hasina government. No legal actions were taken against the journalists,” he told BenarNews.

“The DGFI, the prime minister’s press wing of the information ministry, has not issued any order to dictate the media,” Alam said, adding no journalists have lost jobs because of directives from the government. DFGI is the military’s intelligence wing.

“Rather we have decided to scrap the repressive Cyber Security Act and the government has decided to withdraw all cases relating to freedom of the press and the freedom of expression filed under it,” he said.

Regarding the murder cases, Alam said, “Can you find a single instance where the government filed a case against the journalists? The cases were filed by aggrieved individuals who seek justice for the murder of their children during the July and August protests.”

“If an individual files a case, the government cannot stop it,” he said.

Alam noted that Yunus had invited journalists to criticize his government.

“What else can we at the government do if the journalists practice self-censorship?” he said.

M. Abdullah, a former president of the pro-Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Jamaat-e-Islami faction of the Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists, offered support for the interim government’s efforts. BNP and Jamaat were the major opposition parties under Awami League-rule.

“I do not think the journalists have been facing problems for doing journalism. No government agency has been issuing any directives to the media outlets,” he told BenarNews.

He said those journalists who are censoring themselves are doing so because of their “previous controversial roles and personal weaknesses.” 

“For instance, the financial statements of some of the journalists show they transacted crores (millions) of Taka, which is unusual,” he said.

Robaet Ferdous, a journalism professor at Dhaka University, said the owners of media outlets and the journalists had colluded with the government led by Hasina – but much remained the same.

“People thought the situation would change after Aug. 5. But the situation has not changed. Now, the students have replaced the government agencies deciding who would go to TV talk shows or not,” he told BenarNews, adding “political parties aspiring to get power have already started placing their favored journalists in key positions in media.”

“Theoretically, an atmosphere of free journalism exists, but not in practice,” he said.