Coronavirus crisis forces Bangladesh newspaper The Independent to halt printing

Bangladesh’s English-language daily The Independent has stopped publishing its print version amid the coronavirus crisis that has hit the newspaper industry hard.

It will resume the print edition once the situation normalises, its Executive Editor Shamim Abdullah Zahedy told bdnews24.com on Monday.

He said the print edition of the newspaper will be available on Tuesday, but not from Wednesday for now.

“We are giving maximum priority to the health and safety of our journalists and staff,” Shamim said.

He also said never since its launch in 1996 has the daily broadsheet faced such a crisis.

“The Independent newspaper has decided to stop its print edition from April 08 (Wednesday) amid the prevailing COVID-19 risks and challenges in newspaper distribution,” the newspaper said in a report.

The Independent Editor M Shamsur Rahman, in a Facebook post on Monday, said, “The newspaper had been in circulation for over the past 25 years. But currently our distribution has taken a major blow due to this pandemic.”

Some other national and local newspapers have also stopped printing as the number of circulations has dropped sharply due to fears of infection.