The Al Jazeera report on Bangladesh titled “All the Prime Minister’s Men”, aired early Tuesday morning, revealed some vulnerabilities of our power structure that pivots around connections, cronyism and corruption. It has also, inadvertently, exposed the weaknesses of our media and the state of its freedom.

He wanted to be an excep-tional journalist, and he was. It was as if he willed himself to be what he wanted to be.

The Election Commission (EC) must be above question. But to be so, it must answer all questions. To ignore, evade, downplay or malign citizens who ask the questions is the surest way to sow doubt in the public mind that an attempt is being made to hide, something that is neither good for the EC and definitely not for the future of democracy.

December is the month of victory. We fought for our flag, our land, and our independence. We celebrate it every year.

The United States has always grabbed global attention for just being what is it—the United States.

What was once a startling thunderclap passed off as a whimper, what was welcomed by millions and celebrated as the rebirth of our democracy, went hardly noticed, what was termed as the victory of the people over the military did not receive any public attention.

By the time this article goes to print, Joe Biden, the Democratic Party candidate, may have scraped through the race for the White House.

Nothing could please us more than to hear Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina reiterate her commitment to the freedom of the press and democracy. But does it match with how the Digital Security Act operates, especially against journalists?

Last Tuesday, the home ministry issued a statement warning social media users from home and abroad against spreading “false, fabricated, confusing and inciting statements about the government, military, police and other law enforcement agencies.

After waking up in the morning, we all used to gather, one by one, at my mother’s bedroom. With a cup of tea in everyone’s hand and newspapers scattered on the bed… everyone would read a news item one after another, while others would listen to it and give their opinion.

The blunt statement on September 7 of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in a virtual meeting with the Armed Forces Selection Board—that “we should exclude Martial Law from military lexicon”—was both surprising and refreshing.

By using shell companies and moving money from one account to another, Prashanta Kumar Halder laundered at least Tk 3,500 crore out of the country and is now enjoying his life in Canada.

Reports in the print and electronic media indicate that the image of police in public eyes has been worryingly tainted following the death of Major Sinha under circumstances pointing to the criminal collusive actions of some errant policemen, in addition to other serious infractions of policemen elsewhere in the country.

It is quite astounding that he lived for only 55 years (1920-1975) and achieved so much. He may not have written treaties in philosophy, literature and science but he brought to life a social and political epic that transformed the life of millions of his people and channelled history in a direction that Bangalees only dreamt of but hardly believed that it would happen.

When the battlefield of Verdun was getting drenched in combatants’ blood from all contending sides, the political leadership, unable to define the stalemate, was trying to sell the war as the war “to end all wars”.

The call for defunding police in the US, after the death of George Floyd in police brutality, is one of the most striking messages coming out of what is perhaps the largest civil movement in US history.

Not long ago, I was watching a webinar on the plight of returning migrant workers streamed live on Facebook by The Daily Star.

A recent headline in Prothom Alo (June 26, 2020) stated, “Amartya Sen and Noam Chomsky showered Kerala with praise for their successful containment of the coronavirus”.

He was an editor’s dream of an investor. But he turned out to be so much more. Yes, Matiur Rahman and I run the two papers -- Prothom Alo and The Daily Star respectively -- but it was he who made them happen, with his principles, integrity, courage, steadfastness, strength of character, and unswerving faith in independent media without which, he intuitively knew, that democracy could not flourish.

You may have already seen the social media campaign ‘#payup’, asking Kardashian sisters Kendall and Kylie Jenner to pay up their suppliers in Bangladesh. You may have also read about British brand, Debenhams, which is asking for a whopping 90 percent discount on products from 40 suppliers in the country. What you may not know is that these are only two of at least 1,931 brands which have either delayed, put on hold, or straight-up cancelled their orders since the onset of Covid-19, as per data received from the BGMEA.