Titumir College’s journalist network calls for steps against pressure on bdnews24.com

The journalist association of Titumir College has urged the government to take “proper steps” against those who put “unethical” pressure on bdnews24.com through dozens of legal notices demanding the removal of old reports.

In a statement on Thursday, Shamim Hossain Shishir, the president of the association, and Sabbir Ahmed, general secretary, said the act of putting pressure on media houses, such as bdnews24.com, is ‘worrying’.

Toufique Imrose Khalidi, editor-in-chief of bdnews24.com, spoke extensively on Feb 17 on “bizarre” attempts to muffle journalism by the influential people.

bdnews24.com had published reports on court proceedings and orders in cases filed against former MP HBM Iqbal, a freedom fighter and chairman of Premier Group, and members of his family in the past one and a half decades as had other mainstream media outlets.

bdnews24.com, Bangladesh's first internet newspaper, also covered the news of acquittal of Iqbal and his family members of the charges.

Kazi Nasir Uddin Babul, who identified himself as a friend of Iqbal, filed a plea with the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court in Barishal on Wednesday. The petition seeks to bring charges against four top editors of bdnews24.com, including Khalidi.

Iqbal's friend Babul in his plea claimed that the reports were published “deliberately” in 2007, 2008, 2010, 2015 and 2017.

The reports are “demeaning” Iqbal and his family in Bangladesh and abroad because these are still on the internet despite the fact that they were acquitted in the cases, according to the petitioner.

Babul also said he sent two legal notices to bdnews24.com to have the reports taken down, but the defendants did not make any “satisfactory” response, according to Razib.

However, Iqbal did not send any notice himself.

The senders of legal notices identified themselves as the former MP’s friends and well-wishers.

In one of the new notices from Faridpur, in addition to threatening bdnews24.com with legal action for publishing "any false or baseless news after this", the lawyer also warns of “adverse consequences” for the news publisher.

The statement from the college journalists’ association reads: “bdnews24.com has published reports on the cases following the due process. Yet bdnews24.com is being pressurised in the name of preserving the influential individual’s ‘business interests’, which is a severe threat to the freedom of media.”

“The college journalists association calls upon the government to take proper measures to prevent influential groups from putting pressure and obstructing the freedom of media and on performing professional duties independently.”