An outrageous display of hostility towards journalists
The recently reported attack on journalists brings home an unsavoury reality: safe journalism remains elusive in Bangladesh. The attack on Rajshahi University campus on Sunday night saw members of Bangladesh Jatiotabadi Chatra Dal (JCD), the student affiliate of the ruling BNP, assaulting 10 people, including four student journalists, one of whom is The Daily Star’s RU correspondent, when they attempted to cover a group of armed JCD men gathering in front of a residential hall looking for a student leader. The victims sustained various degrees of injuries and were taken to hospital for treatment. Those who tried to protect them were threatened in the shameful and outrageous display of hostility towards journalists simply trying to do their job.
Sadly, this is not an isolated case of violent antagonism towards the press by ruling party affiliates. On August 29, The Daily Star’s Jhenaidah correspondent alleged that a group of JCD men, incited by a local BNP leader, had beaten him up while he was covering a local programme attended by the law minister. Shortly before that, in Shariatpur, three journalists, including this daily’s local correspondent, were allegedly assaulted by BNP members while covering a party rally, followed by reports of a threat from a local party leader: “Journalists will write, and we will beat them again.”
This resentment is not confined to the ruling party. In July, following the media coverage of their violence on the RU campus, leaders of the Rajshahi University Central Students’ Union (Rucsu) issued a warning that journalists who had portrayed Rucsu and Islami Chhatrashibir “unfairly” would “face action”. In June, Jamaat men assaulted a multimedia journalist while covering an event in Dhaka’s Dhanmondi 32.
This open hostility does not bode well for press freedom and the safety of journalists in the country. As Prothom Alo Editor Matiur Rahman recently pointed out, the fall of an authoritarian government two years ago has not automatically made the situation better; journalists continue to face pressure, threats and an environment that encourages self-censorship. If journalists have to constantly worry about their safety, how are they supposed to do their job properly, particularly when it entails holding power to account? A democracy cannot flourish if its press remains shackled by violent intimidation.
JCD has formed a committee to investigate the incident and promised action; so have the RU authorities. But an internal party probe cannot substitute for an impartial investigation. Meanwhile, the government needs to take stock of the situation. Having made an electoral pledge to ensure press freedom and professional security for journalists, the recent attacks by ruling party members and affiliates reflect badly upon them. We urge the government to demonstrate that it means what it has promised. It must ensure a prompt, impartial investigation into the RU attack, prosecute those responsible, and make clear to party activists that political affiliation offers no protection from the law. It must also ensure that journalists around the country are able to do their job freely.
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