Published : 03 Oct 2026, 02:05 AM
Updated : 03 Oct 2026, 02:05 AM
Around 8:30pm, the newsroom was filled up on a Friday night. One former colleague after another arrived at bdnews24.com. Faces were sombre, some eyes wet with tears. They struggled with the same thought: the news could not be true, could not be accepted.
As word spread of the death of bdnews24.com Editor-in-Chief Toufique Imrose Khalidi, former colleagues returned to the newsroom carrying memories of conversations, lessons and moments that had suddenly become part of the past.
For Makful Saad, a former bdnews24.com journalist, working with Khalidi had been a “memorable” experience.
“Toufique Bhai practised professional journalism with dedication throughout his life. He inspired many young people like me to take up journalism. I will remain indebted to him for life. He was one of the people from whom I learned journalism. I will miss him terribly.”
Standing nearby were Suliman Niloy, Abdul Mannan Dipto and others who had once worked alongside Khalidi.
Niloy first encountered Khalidi in 2009, after he moved to Dhaka and sat for an interview to join bdnews24.com.
“He was the one who interviewed me. I could answer the first question, but not the second. After he asked the third question, I realised there was no way I could pass the viva by answering it.
“Then I told him directly, ‘Brother, I came to Dhaka specifically to do journalism, and that is why I enrolled in the journalism department. But after enrolling, I felt that if I wanted to learn journalism, I should work at a good organisation. I came here because I consider your organisation to be that good organisation, where I can work and learn journalism. If I get the opportunity, I will try to make the best possible use of it’.”
What happened next, Niloy said, was unexpected.
“He did not ask me any more questions. He simply said, ‘OK, start learning’.”
Niloy went on to spend 13 and a half years at bdnews24.com.
“My relationship with him was not simply that of a boss and an employee; he was my mentor, guide and guardian. Once, at a meeting, the other side said they would start talking after I left the room. Toufique Bhai made it clear: ‘He is my son, he will stay’. That was the nature of our relationship.”
Niloy said much of what he learned about journalism came directly from Khalidi, including lessons that went beyond anything he had encountered in formal education.
“I do not think all the journalism courses in that department could have taught me all I learned from him. Whenever I went abroad on assignments, he would carefully guide me, including the itinerary and what I should learn from each country. We are indebted to him. Bangladesh’s journalism is indebted to him.
“Through his practice of high-quality journalism, he and his organisation set the agenda for Bangladesh’s journalism for many years.
“He taught us to rethink the quality of news. Even amid many difficulties, the business model through which he sought to build the organisation was unique. No one will forget his contribution to taking the quality of news in Bangladesh to a new level and advancing the use of technology in journalism.”
Lessons that Lasted
Sazia Afrin, another former colleague, began working at bdnews24.com after completing her undergraduate degree.
“While studying at the University of Dhaka’s journalism department, whenever our teachers gave examples of good or proper news in class, they mostly discussed reports from bdnews24. That is how I first came to know Toufique Bhai’s name.
“As someone who had just started working, that was what I thought then, and I still believe it: high-quality journalism meant [bdnews24.com] and, behind it, Toufique Bhai’s confidence, courage and practice of delivering accurate news. I believe he spread that practice throughout the newsroom.”
Faysal Atik, who left bdnews24.com only recently to join another organisation, remembered Khalidi as a mentor.
“He played the role of a teacher throughout my journalistic career. He taught me many details of pure journalism through hands-on guidance. I am stunned by the news of his sudden departure.”
Dipto left bdnews24.com in 2019, but said his connection with the organisation never really ended.
“I left bdnews in 2019. But my relationship with bdnews never really ended. He would personally ask them to invite me to every bdnews event. That sincerity always touched me. I last met him at bdnews’s anniversary in October last year.
“I learned many things about journalism from him, things that perhaps were not even taught at our university. It was not only journalism; I also learned from him how to hold my ground as a journalist.
“He was an ideal journalist to me. A journalist who never compromised. His honesty, courage and commitment to journalism will always remain an inspiration to me.”
Abu Noman Sajib called Khalidi the finest teacher of his 25-year journalism career.
“In a place like Bangladesh, it was possible to withstand every pressure and still follow global standards of journalism -- you only had to look at Toufique Bhai’s work to understand that.”
Recalling the political turmoil of 2007-08, he said: “During the One-Eleven crisis, I had the opportunity to work directly under his guidance in the newsroom. That was when I learned how to present a sensitive report to readers in a completely neutral and dispassionate manner.”
Sajib said Khalidi had remained firmly committed to his principles even as he watched influential journalists succumb to pressure or ambition.
“Over the past two decades, I have seen many influential journalists deviate from their principles under pressure or out of a desire for power. But I never saw Toufique Imrose Khalidi move even an inch from his ideological position. A clear imprint of those principles and ideals has existed at bdnews24.com, the country’s first online newspaper, from the very beginning.”
His untimely death, Sajib said, would be felt across the media industry for years.
“At a time when readers’ and viewers’ trust in the media has fallen to its lowest level in living memory, the absence of a skilled newsman and news manager like him will be felt for a long time.”
Sayeda Mou Jannat, a former employee of hello.bdnews24.com, described the news as a deeply personal loss.
“When I heard the news, it felt as though someone from my own family had died. I still cannot believe it.”
She spent more than 12 and a half years working with bdnews24.com’s platform for child journalism and recalled an incident that, for her, demonstrated Khalidi’s faith in his employees’ professional judgement.
During a training session for children, an unexpected situation arose, and she had to make the immediate decision to suspend the session. After she informed her then-senior Niloy, he assessed the situation and advised Mou to make the decision herself.
Later, when the person responsible for the session objected to the decision and raised the matter with Khalidi, he stood firmly behind his employee.
“Toufique Bhai told him directly, ‘The decision Mou made there was the right decision’. So many such incidents of his trust in and support for employees are coming back to me today.”
Pavel Rahman remembered Khalidi in more poetic terms.
“Everyone walks a path; only some create one. Toufique Imrose Khalidi was a pioneer in Bangladesh’s journalism. He created a path, and I walked along it.
“I worked as a journalist at bdnews24.com under the editorship of Toufique Imrose Khalidi, and that is a tremendous source of pride for me. A bright star of Bangladesh’s journalism has fallen.
“May you rest well in the eternal world, Toufique Bhai. You will remain forever awake in journalism’s bright chapter.”
Sudden Farewell
Khalidi had been in London on a private visit when he suddenly fell ill.
He was taken to St Bartholomew’s Hospital on Thursday night after suffering a brain haemorrhage. Doctors pronounced him dead at 2:23pm local time on Friday.
His body’s return to Bangladesh has not yet been scheduled. The family will announce the time and place of his funeral prayer and burial once arrangements have been finalised.
