‘The Fourth Estate will not survive unless defended’
Martin Moore and Thomas Colley, authors of Dictating Reality: The Global Battle to Control the News (2025), discuss how governments worldwide manipulate the media, reshape public perception, and construct competing realities in an age of digital disinformation. The interview was conducted by Shamsuddoza Sajen of The Daily Star.
2 November 2025, 05:00 AM
‘The Fourth Estate will not survive unless defended’
Martin Moore and Thomas Colley, authors of Dictating Reality: The Global Battle to Control the News (2025), discuss how governments worldwide manipulate the media, reshape public perception, and construct competing realities in an age of digital disinformation. The interview was conducted by Shamsuddoza Sajen of The Daily Star.
2 November 2025, 05:00 AM
Reading power: How everyday texts shaped life under the British Empire
At the heart of Required Reading are forgotten readers from the past.
28 October 2025, 10:46 AM
Opinion / Whom will the Awami League supporters vote for?
The Awami League (AL) is very likely to haunt the entire exercise.
16 October 2025, 03:00 AM
A voice of resistance, progressive thought falls silent
Badruddin Umar, the eminent public intellectual, historian, and political activist, passed away in Dhaka yesterday at the age of 94. He breathed his last at Bangladesh Specialised Hospital, Shyamoli, around 10:05am. He was suffering from old-age complications.
7 September 2025, 18:10 PM
Badruddin Umar speaks / 'We must not lose focus from real political barriers'
Hasina took dynasty politics to levels we could not have ever imagined. What happened to Sheikh Mujib’s former residence was unfortunate. But I would say that Sheikh Hasina is partly responsible for the incident.
7 September 2025, 08:22 AM
The 36th day of July / August 5, 2024: The day the people triumphed
August 5 became a watershed in Bangladesh’s history -- the climactic peak of the July uprising.
4 August 2025, 18:10 PM
The July that rocked Bangladesh / August 4, 2024: The deadliest day of the uprising
August 4, 2024 marked the deadliest day of Bangladesh’s student-led uprising, as the non-cooperation movement entered an explosive new phase.
3 August 2025, 18:08 PM
Nazrul pledges socialism
Syed Nazrul Islam, acting president of the provisional government of Bangladesh, today assured the countrymen that the promises and pledges given by the Awami League would be fulfilled and the country would be taken towards the path of socialism.
9 May 2021, 18:00 PM
Pakistan’s sinking economy
The Pakistan government was reported ready to carry out recommendations of the United States, the World Bank, the international Monetary Fund and other international donors for a 100 percent devaluation of its currency, from 4.6 rupees to the dollar to more nearly 9, 10 or 11.
8 May 2021, 18:00 PM
Witness to the killing of Italian priest
Pakistan Martial Law authorities ordered the domolition of the Shaheed Minar in Dhaka, reported Associated Press of Pakistan (APP).
7 May 2021, 18:00 PM
Road to Freedom: This Day in Bangladesh Liberation War History
US President Richard Nixon in a letter issued today to Pakistan President Yahya Khan expressed his concern over the loss of life and human suffering in East Pakistan. However, he sympathised with Yahya and said, “I understand the anguish you must have felt in making the difficult decisions you have faced.”
6 May 2021, 18:00 PM
US Senate unit asks Pakistan arms cutoff
A heavy fight broke out today at Teliapara, Sylhet. Pakistani Army in the guise of Indian BSF breached the defences of Bangladesh force and were in firing position.
5 May 2021, 18:00 PM
The books that went to war
The books authored and published during a war always have an archival quality; they capture the time in its crudest form. They are a seamless blend
5 May 2021, 18:00 PM
War with India possible, says Pakistani general
The Pakistani government said today that news of slaughter carried out by Awami League members in East Pakistan before March 25 “has been kept strictly secret for fear of reprisals in West Pakistan”.
4 May 2021, 18:00 PM
Genocide issue will be referred to UN body
The Bangladesh government decided to refer to the Human Rights Commission of the United Nations the question of genocide in the newborn republic.
3 May 2021, 18:00 PM
Pakistan denies refugee exodus
West Pakistan newspapers on May 3 quoted government sources as denying that large numbers of refugees were fleeing East Pakistan to neighbouring India.
2 May 2021, 18:00 PM
An unprecedented move by British MPssh MPs
Faced with growing pressures among British MPs of all parties for intervention in Bangladesh war, Sir Alec Douglas-Home, British foreign secretary,
30 April 2021, 18:00 PM
Bangladesh at risk of famine
About four million people in south-central Bangladesh, ravaged by a cyclone and tidal wave in November 1970, were facing starvation because the war had halted emergency food distribution, reported the Washington Post.
29 April 2021, 18:00 PM
Heavier inflow of refugees feared
A delegation headed by Labour MP John Stonehouse and top officials of War on Want, Christian Aid and Oxfam, called on Sir Alec Douglas Home, British foreign secretary, and told him that Britain should do something so that international relief work could be started in Bangladesh.
28 April 2021, 18:00 PM
Tajuddin’s plea for arms aid
Bangladesh Prime Minister Tajuddin Ahmed today appealed to neighbouring countries to grant immediate recognition to Bangladesh and to give unconditional arms aid and thus help a newborn country free itself from the clutches of a murderous army.
27 April 2021, 18:00 PM
‘Don’t squeeze Yahya’
In a memorandum sent to President Richard Nixon today, the US President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs Henry Kissinger provided three policy options towards the East Pakistan crisis:
26 April 2021, 18:00 PM
Another Bangalee diplomat defects
The 28’year’old vice consul of Pakistan in the US renounced his ties with the Pakistani government today, saying he would “not serve a government killing our own people”.
25 April 2021, 18:00 PM
Bhashani’s telegram to world leaders
National Awami Party President Moulana Bhashani renewed his appeal to several world leaders to help the cause of Bangladesh. In a telegram,
24 April 2021, 18:00 PM
US urges restraint in wake of Indo-Pak confrontation
US State Department sent a telegram to the US Embassy in Pakistan on April 24, 1971. The telegram provided a critical overview of the East Pakistan situation based on US Assistant Secretary Sisco’s meetings with Pakistan Ambassador Hilaly and Indian Ambassador Jha.
23 April 2021, 18:00 PM
Mujibnagar cabinet meets
The Pakistan radio said tonight that Pakistan had decided to close down the Deputy High Commission office in Calcutta and had asked India to close her Deputy High Commission office in Dacca.
22 April 2021, 18:00 PM
India requests UN assistance for refugees
Maulana Bhashani, president of the National Awami Party (NAP-Bhashani), said in a press statement that the examples of Chiang-ki-shek in China and Czar in Russia and British oppression in undivided India or zulum of Jalem Yazid at Karbala pale into insignificance before the latest example of atrocity perpetrated by Yahya’s army.
21 April 2021, 18:00 PM
Fleeing by the thousands
Driven by the Pakistani troops’ genocide in Bangladesh, the influx of evacuees had been so great in Bongaon in 24-Parganas district that admission into one of the three camps had been stopped by the state government and a fourth camp was being opened.
20 April 2021, 18:00 PM