AIP Wire, New York.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has urged Bangladesh’s newly elected government to take immediate and concrete steps to improve press freedom, warning that democratic reforms will lack credibility without stronger protections for journalists.
Bangladesh’s new prime minister, Tarique Rahman of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), was sworn in last week following a landslide victory in the country’s first national election since the student-led uprising of July 2024. The new administration has pledged to restore trust in democracy and channel public demands for change into meaningful political reform.
However, CPJ has expressed concern over what it describes as a deteriorating environment for the media. In a recent opinion piece, CPJ’s Asia-Pacific Program Coordinator Kunal Majumder pointed to a rise in physical attacks, threats, and harassment against journalists, as well as the continued imprisonment of at least five media workers. He also highlighted impunity for violence against journalists and limited progress on promised media reforms, which he said have contributed to growing fear and self-censorship within the press.
Ahead of the February 12 election, CPJ sent letters to major political parties — including the BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, the National Citizen Party, and the Jatiya Party — calling for public commitments to protect journalists and reject violence, intimidation, and the misuse of criminal or national security laws.
The organization has urged the newly elected leadership to honor those commitments and prioritize press freedom as a cornerstone of rebuilding democratic trust in Bangladesh.
