The continuous struggle for a free press
On the 29th anniversary of The Daily Star, we express our heartfelt gratitude to our readers who have been our inspiration in the long and arduous struggle for a free press in the country. What we celebrate today is this struggle, and our perseverance amidst increasingly stringent restrictions on the free press over the last three decades. We had hoped that with the transition to democracy in the 1990s, we could take these freedoms for granted, but unfortunately, successive regimes have failed to see the importance of a free press in building an inclusive, just and pro-people Bangladesh. Perhaps our biggest regret over the years has been that those in power have, more often than not, seen a free press as a threat to their vision of the country, rather than as an enabler of a better Bangladesh.
Over the years, Bangladesh has achieved remarkable economic growth. It has also done extraordinarily well in addressing social concerns such as child and infant mortality, gender inequity, low life expectancy, low levels of immunisation and so on, surpassing India and indeed the region as a whole on a number of indicators. However, despite this progress, inequality in the country is at an all-time high. Income held by the poorest 40 percent of the population in Bangladesh has declined from 17.41 percent in 1991 to 13.01 percent in 2016, while the income held by the richest 20 percent of the population increased from 37.4 percent in 1991 to 41.4 percent in 2016. The real challenge that lies ahead for Bangladesh is figuring out a way to make its development process sustainable and, equally importantly, inclusive. Growth of the few cannot make up for the subjugation of the many.
For a development process to be sustainable and inclusive, there's no denying that the voices of the people need to be at the front and centre of any agenda. And how else but through a free press can people's voices be heard? We reiterate what we have always believed: that for the government, free media is a powerful ally that can provide a flow of information that is authentic, objective and nuanced, from the grassroots, which in turn can keep the state machineries accountable to the people.
If Bangladesh is to truly function as a democracy—one in which development uplifts not only the privileged, but the larger masses who most need it—then a free press must be allowed to first exist and, dare we say, flourish.
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