‘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
Indira rejects Thant’s proposal
Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi turned down U Thant’s proposal that he help relieve tensions between India and Pakistan. She urged him to concentrate instead on ending the “civil war” in East Pakistan.
17 November 2021, 18:00 PM
Bangladesh govt criticises proposal of political settlement
A daylight curfew was imposed on Dhaka today, reported The New York Times. There were unconfirmed reports of fighting
16 November 2021, 18:00 PM
Bangladesh issue may be solved in a month or two: Indira
Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi, in a letter dated November 16, 1971, urged US president Nixon to “use the vast prestige of the United States and its wisdom” to find a political solution acceptable to the elected representatives of East Bengal and their leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
15 November 2021, 18:00 PM
Pakistani foreign secy calls on Kissinger
Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Sultan Khan called on US President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs Henry Kissinger today.
14 November 2021, 18:00 PM
Indira asks cabinet to give world last chance
Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi said that the international community ought to be given the chance to persuade President Yahya Khan to initiate, within the next week or so, a realistic political solution in East Pakistan.
13 November 2021, 18:00 PM
Pakistan-China meeting at UN
Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, returning from a three’week Western tour, said today that the military confrontation with Pakistan was becoming “less and less tolerable”.
12 November 2021, 18:00 PM
Indira rules out Tashkent-type talks
A Tashkent-type conference is not possible to solve the crisis created by Pakistan. But no problem is unsolvable and that even at the last moment the world can make the Yahya regime see reason and bow to the wishes of Bangalees.
11 November 2021, 18:00 PM
Bangladesh govt will take back all refugees
West German chancellor Willy Brandt today said a political solution of the East Pakistan problem must be found. Speaking at a
10 November 2021, 18:00 PM
UN Mission may withdraw
A nine-day national conference titled “Consultation on the American Response to events in East Pakistan” began today in Washington DC.
9 November 2021, 18:00 PM
‘Bangladesh struggle a liberation movement’
The leader of the Soviet parliamentary delegation in India, Kudrayavetsev, described the Bangladesh struggle as a “national liberation movement with elements of civil war in it”. He was speaking at the press club in New Delhi today.
8 November 2021, 18:00 PM
East Bengal can’t remain united with Pakistan: Indira
Pakistan President Yahya Khan was today quoted as saying that China would intervene in the event of an Indian attack on Pakistan.
7 November 2021, 18:00 PM
US will cancel licences to ship arms to Pakistan
The United States decided to cancel licences for the export of more than $3-million worth of military equipment to Pakistan. The action would in effect shut the controversial arms pipeline that supplied Pakistan with spare parts and other military goods even though the Administration imposed an arms freeze in April, 1971.
6 November 2021, 18:00 PM
China pledges aid to Pakistan
China called on India and Pakistan today to find a peaceful solution to their frontier dispute, but warned that it would “resolutely support” Pakistan in the event of war.
5 November 2021, 18:00 PM
350 scholars ask for ban on Pakistan aid
More than 350 scholars signed a statement urging US president Richard Nixon to withdraw his country’s support for Pakistan until there was a peaceful settlement of the India-Pakistan crisis.
4 November 2021, 18:00 PM
Indira, Nixon confer
Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi called on US president Nixon today at the White House. The two-hour talk covered the Bangladesh issue in substantial detail.
3 November 2021, 18:00 PM
Sit-in before Pak High Commission
The US President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs Henry Kissinger, in a memorandum sent today, informed President
2 November 2021, 18:00 PM
Yahya agreed to pullback military unilaterally
The US ambassador in Pakistan, Joseph Farland, in a telegram sent today to the US State Department, informed that Pak
1 November 2021, 18:00 PM
War imminent: Yahya
US Senator Edward M Kennedy urged the Nixon administration today to support efforts to bring the Bangladesh situation before the United Nations General Assembly in the interests of reaching a political solution.
31 October 2021, 18:00 PM
“I am sitting on the top of a volcano”: Indira
The Bangladesh problem dominated the talks Indira Gandhi had with Heath today at the British prime minister’s country residence outside London.
30 October 2021, 18:00 PM
Yahya’s election drama
US President Richard Nixon, in a letter sent today, appreciated Pakistan President Yahya Khan for his “prompt and positive” response to the US proposal for withdrawal of forces from the border with India.
29 October 2021, 18:00 PM