CPJ urges Bangladesh’s govt-to-be to safeguard press freedom

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on Bangladesh’s incoming government to uphold constitutional guarantees of press freedom and take urgent steps to protect journalists.

In a Facebook post from their verified page on Friday, CPJ said issues raised in its pre-election letters to major political parties, including the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Jamaat-e-Islami, National Citizen Party (NCP), and Jatiya Party, must now be addressed through reforms that ensure accountability and safeguard the news media.

The organisation urged elected representatives to reject violence, intimidation, and misuse of criminal or national-security laws against journalists.

It emphasised that protecting press freedom is a necessity for democracy, and must remain a priority as the country transitions to a new administration.

On January 29, ahead of Bangladesh's national election, CPJ disclosed that they wrote to Bangladesh's major political parties.

In those letters, CPJ highlighted research showing that risks to journalists had increased in the run-up to the polls.

The letter also referred to mob attacks last December on the offices of two leading newspapers, Prothom Alo and The Daily Star. CPJ described the incident as a troubling precedent for press safety.