'Celebrating deeper value of freedom of speech'

Bangladesh's leading English language daily, The Daily Star is celebrating its 28th anniversary with the motto 'journalism without fear or favour'.

Arranged with a theme that commemorates The Daily Star's journey through the years, the gala programme is being held at International Convention Centre, Bashundhara.

Rokia Afzal, chairperson of Media World Limited, the owning company of The Daily Star, commenced the programme with an opening speech after programme began with the National Anthem around 8:00pm.

"The journey has not always been smooth. We had to face obstacles to press freedom and suffer financial constraints," she said. 

She thanked everyone involved with The Daily Star to have overcome all the obstacles and make the newspaper what it is today - "a successful business".

Mahfuz Anam, editor and publisher of The Daily Star, said: "We are not only celebrating our founding anniversary, we are also celebrating the deeper value of freedom of speech".

He called upon all to support ""freedom of though, freedom to write, freedom to compose a musical piece, and the freedom of expression".