Sagar Biswas :Bangladesh, born in blood and fire in 1971 through War of Liberation, is firmly committed to the basic principle of democracy. In the right to freedom, the country’s Constitution guarantees a number of freedoms, the first of which is ‘freedom of speech and expression’. The New Nation, in its 37th publication anniversary as a daily, can boldly say its mission was never stopped to fulfill its vision – ensure press freedom and justice for the common people.In today’s Bangladesh, the deep-rooted political rivalry has divided the national media. Political rivalries between ruling party and main opposition have created negative impact on the smooth functioning of the print, electronic and online media. In fact, ‘freedom of speech and expression’ is now under question.In terms of objectives and ideas, The New Nation is totally different. It never feared to point out the ‘bad’, which is hidden in the guise of ‘good’ — whether in national issues or international policies. Obviously, it needs courage to stand against odd situation and oppose misdeeds of powerful quarters. The New Nation has done it courageously several times earlier, and it is still doing the same. Especially, the “commentary” written by Barrister Mainul Hosein not only points to the wrongdoings, but also shows the guideline to solve the unsolved crises. Apart from it, the strong editorial section of The New Nation always raises its voice in favour of the depressed and oppressed ones.Pathanjali Sethi in the book Professional Journalism says, ‘Journalism is not a trade, a craft or an art…It is much more than a voice of protest and medium of spotlight on the evils. It has to educate, inform and instruct the ordinary people, mold public opinion, and entertain and educate the human mind.’ Keeping this in mind, The New Nation editorial board always tries to beautify other regular sections – sports, entertainment, life, campus, city, national, Chittagong, law & justice and business-under the leadership of incumbent editor AM Mufazzal. It is believed that the age of our newspaper industry is around 235 years; the first newspaper had started its journey in this subcontinent in 1780. James Augustus Hicky, an Irishman, had launched first printed newspaper in India with the name Bengal Gazette; also known as Hicky’s Bengal Gazette. Eminent writer, historian and teacher of Dhaka University Professor Muntasir Mamun in his book ‘Unish Shatake Dhakar Mudran o Prokashona [1848-1900]’, mentions that printing press first started working in the year of 1848 – 49 in Chhoto Kattra where the Baptist missionaries resided and set up their offices. ‘The Kattra Press survived four years. Then it was bought in order to publish Dacca News, the first English newspaper in Dhaka, published in 1856. When Dacca News stopped printing, another English newspaper The Bengal Times was published [from Dacca Press] and existed till the twentieth century, Prof Mamun says.In this criterion, The New Nation is not a very old one. But at present, it is the ‘oldest most’ English daily newspaper in the country. In 1958, under the leadership of Tofazzal Hossain Manik Mia, The Ittefaq transformed from a weekly to a daily newspaper, and launched an all-out combat against military rule of Pakistan — from Ayub Khan to Yahya Khan. During this time, Manik Mia fearlessly fought to establish political rights of the people. In his fight against oppressive rulers, he had felt the necessity of an English newspaper apparently to circulate his ‘mission and vision’ in the international arena. Obviously, the emerging of The New Nation was nothing but outcome of dream of Manik Mia, the founder editor of The Ittefaq and pioneer of modern journalism. And the dream was successfully visualized and materialized by his eldest son Barrister Mainul Hosein, the publisher of newspaper. On October 15, 1981, The New Nation started to publish as a daily. Md Golam Kibriya in his book History of Press in Bangladesh says, ‘A former weekly, The New Nation to begin its journey as a daily faced hurdles where the management had to fight a legal battle that ultimately moved up to Appellate Division of the Supreme Court.’ At that time, eminent jurist Syed Ishtiaq Ahmed said, I’m sure the suit regarding the Robbar [a sister publication of The New Nation] could have created a landmark in the constitutional development of country….We’ve got such a judgment which has created history in regard to the constitutional law and that is about Eighth Amendment. On June 16, 1975, the then government promulgated an ordinance called Newspaper Annulment Order 1975. In exercise of that ordinance, declaration of all newspapers was cancelled, except four dailies – Ittefaq, Dainik Bangla, Bangladesh Observer and Bangladesh Times, and some pro-government weeklies. Later, the governments of different periods have applied ‘Printing Press and Publication [Declaration and Registration] Act 1973’ as a tool apparently to keep the press in size. Those disliked were kept apart either by withholding or banning declaration. The New Nation, however, did not stop to express its views fearing any adverse situation. If anyone wants to understand the current media situation in Bangladesh, he will have to look back. The media of Bangladesh saw tremendous change during the late 1980s and early 1990s, when a number of new dailies hit market and the rich and powerful began to invest in the media to increase their influence in business and politics. In the last 35 years, several English daily newspapers have been published, including The Daily Star -1991, Financial Express -1993, The Independent -1995, The News Today- 2001, The Bangladesh Today – 2002, The New Age -2002, The Sun – 2010 and The Dhaka Tribune – 2013, now a tabloid. At the same time, the then oldest daily The Bangladesh Observer [now defunct], was also in the market. But The New Nation faced the competition with its own capability and strength, and it is still running without any interruption under the same ownership in the same building under the round-the-clock supervision of Saju Hosein, Chairperson of the publishing company. In modern democratic country, the press is treated as ‘fourth state’. So criticism is sharp over the role of press or mass media. There is also a debate, whether the press would organize public opinion. In our country, the press had started to function in British period. And from the very beginning, the press had been accomplishing two major duties – delivering news and molding public opinion. That means, the media has been doing two jobs simultaneously – it is generating ‘spirit’ among the common people and focusing their ‘thinking’ on the page. The trend is nothing new, it is historical. But many other academicians say the press has no impartial policy; it always focuses views of a section of the people. It was true in the beginning and it is still the same. In nineteenth century, each and every newspaper supported a specific party, group or section of society. The Dhaka News had extended its support to indigo planters [Nilkor]. Another newspaper, the Bengal Times was also hardcore supporter of the British. There was, however, a big difference between English and Bengali newspapers about their outlook. Apparently, the English newspapers were reforming type, but most of the Bengali newspapers were conservative. As an example, the Dhaka Prokash at first was in favour of ‘Brahma Samaj’ and later it was switched to conservative Hindus.
Arun K Goel in his book Encyclopedia of Journalism and Mass Media says, “Media constitute the backbone of democracy. The media are supplying the political information that voters base the decision on. They identify problems in our society and serve as a medium for deliberation.’ No doubt The New Nation follows the ideology, and fights for strong democracy and formation of government based on voters’ choice.
But freedom of press is a myth in Bangladesh. Actually, the ‘freedom’ is marred due to absence of non-partisan and pluralistic journalism. Parties in Bangladesh hardly remember what they had pledged to the people, and what should be objective of their government. After achieving power, at one stage, they all try to hold their grip on the media, control its voice, undermine its freedom and suppress its right to expression. The press of Bangladesh has been suffering from the ‘illnesses’ soon after the country’s independence.
But in this common trend, The New Nation is an exception, which fights continuously – to fulfill its vision to establish freedom of speech and expression and ensure justice to common people.
Today, on the eve of publication anniversary, we do express our gratitude to our valuable readers, advertisers, well-wishers and other related persons for their uninterrupted support and cooperation, which had inspired us to continue the fight for good governance for the people to know their rights are protected and justice secured in the midst of adverse situations.
We are sad that things are getting worse, but it’s in our own small way we had tried to protect the voice of the people.
