<i>Star</i> dubbed as generally neutral

A US diplomat in 2009 labelled The Daily Star as a “generally neutral” newspaper in Bangladesh.
Nicholas J Dean, the then charge d'affaires of the US embassy in Dhaka, thus termed the English daily in a cable sent on October 14, 2009, on the reaction in the Bangladeshi media to President Barack Obama's winning the Nobel Peace Prize.
Saying that the local newspaper editorials across the political spectrum generally applauded Obama's selection, Nicholas quoted parts of the editorials in his cable.
The whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks published the cable, along with thousands of other US diplomatic cables, on August 30 this year.
Highlighting The Daily Star editorial headlined “President Obama and the Nobel Prize; The award is a challenge to America's leader” published on October 10 that year, the American diplomat termed the paper a “generally neutral English newspaper”.
For Prothom Alo, he used the term “generally neutral and pro-US highest-circulated vernacular daily”.
He found The Independent and Ittefaq to be “pro-US” and New Age to be an “anti-US” newspaper.
The cable labelled Amar Desh and New Nation “BNP-leaning” and Naya Diganta as “Jamaat-and BNP-leaning vernacular” daily.
Inquilab is a “generally anti-West Bangla vernacular daily,” the cable added.
Nicholas Dean labelled Samakal as “Awami League-leaning and pro-West”, Janakantha as “Awami League-leaning and generally pro-West” and Jaijaidin as a “government-leaning” vernacular daily.