| Journalism without fear or favour | |
 | |
| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet |
| Owner | Transcom Group |
| Founder | Syed Mohammad Ali |
| Editor | Mahfuz Anam (Editor) Aasha Mehreen Amin (Joint Editor) |
| Founded | 14 January 1991; 34 years ago (1991-01-14) |
| Political alignment | Liberalism Progressivism |
| Language | English |
| Headquarters | 64–65,Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue,Dhaka-1215 |
| Circulation | 29,450[1] |
| Website | thedailystar |
The Daily Star is a Bangladeshi English-language daily newspaper. It is by far the largest circulating English-language newspaper in the country.[2] Founded bySyed Mohammed Ali on 14 January 1991, as Bangladesh transitioned and restoredparliamentary democracy,[3][4] the newspaper became popular for its outspoken coverage ofpolitics, corruption, andforeign policy. It is considered anewspaper of record for Bangladesh.[5][6] The newspaper has been described as having a "reputation for journalistic integrity and liberal and progressive views - a kind of BangladeshiNew York Times".[7]
Mahfuz Anam serves as the editor and publisher ofThe Daily Star.The Daily Star is owned by Mediaworld, in which a major share is held by theTranscom Group.[8]Star Business, the business edition of the paper, is highly popular. The newspaper serves its Bengali readership digitally through its website.
In the late 1980s, plans for a major English newspaper in Bangladesh were drawn up by Syed Mohammad Ali and Mahfuz Anam inBangkok. Ali previously served as Editor ofThe Bangkok Post inThailand and theHong Kong Standard inBritish Hong Kong. Anam was working inUNESCO when he teamed up with Ali to establish a newspaper in Bangladesh. They secured funding from leading Bangladeshi financiers, including Azimur Rahman, A. S. Mahmud,Latifur Rahman, A. Rouf Chowdhury and Shamsur Rahman.[9] The newspaper was set up in 1991, which coincided with Bangladesh's return to parliamentary democracy after 15 years of military rule and presidential government.The Daily Star gained popularity for its outspoken coverage of politics in Bangladesh, including the rivalry between theAwami League led bySheikh Hasina and theBangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) led byKhaleda Zia. It became the country's largest circulating English-language newspaper and quickly overtookThe Bangladesh Observer andWeekly Holiday. It gained a wide readership inDhaka andChittagong, particularly among the urban elites, the business community and thediplomatic community.
In 2007,The Daily Star editor Mahfuz Anam called out army chief GeneralMoeen U Ahmed for suggesting political reforms, arguing that it was beyond the mandate of the army chief to speak about politics.[10] In a widely read commentary titled "This is no way to strengthen democracy", Anam also blasted the military-backed caretaker government for the arrest of Sheikh Hasina in 2007.[11] In 2009, aninvestigative report byThe Daily Star implicated former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's sonTarique Rahman and close aides fromHawa Bhaban in the2004 Dhaka grenade attack.[12] Tarique Rahman was later sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the attack.[13] In 2015, the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina suspended all tender notices and government adverts inThe Daily Star as a pressure tactic because government advertisements generate a significant share of revenue for the newspaper; this suspension was later lifted.[14] In 2021, a commentary by Mahfuz Anam criticized army chief GeneralAziz Ahmed for controversial remarks in which Aziz suggested that criticizing the army chief was tantamount to criticizing Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.[15] On 22 April 2022, Anam wrote a commentary titled "Can we really have a free and fair election?" in which he lamentedBangladesh's democratic backsliding.[16] Throughout 2022 and 2023, Anam wrote a series of articles on the importance of free and fair elections, press freedom, theDigital Security Act (which was repealed), the role of the bureaucracy, political history, political parties and theBangladesh Election Commission.[17][18][19][20][21]
Only two years after launching the newspaper, SM Ali died and a young Anam, who was Ali's protege, became the editor of the fledgling daily. As editor and publisher, Anam has been widely credited for steering the paper's editorial independence. Financial affairs are overseen by a six-member board of directors of theholding company Mediaworld Limited.Syed Fahim Munaim was the CEO and Managing Editor of the newspaper for many years.[22] Munaim was credited for ensuring the financial independence of paper. Ahead of the 2024 general election, the paper hired several pro-BNP journalists and writers, took an aggressively pro-BNP editorial stance, and strongly criticized the ruling Awami League. The election ended up being boycotted by the BNP amid allegations of a lack of a conducive environment for holding elections. In 2023, Anam was appointed chairman of the holding company of The Daily Star after the death of longstanding chairpersonRokeya Afzal Rahman. Syed Ashfaqul Haque, who worked in both management and the newsroom for 31 years, was appointed as Executive Editor.Aasha Mehreen Amin, the granddaughter of Pakistan's last Bengali premierNurul Amin, serves as the Joint Editor while S.S. Preetha is head of theOp-Ed section, which was previously headed byZafar Sobhan.[23] Amin continues to wield significant influence over commentaries and Op-Eds. Amin previously ran the paper's defunctStar magazine supplement. Mizanur Rahman, the Head of Operations, and Tajdin Hasan, the Chief Business Officer, are the two other key leaders of the newspaper.
In recent years, the paper has complained of growing restrictions onpress freedom in Bangladesh.[24] It also faced pressure from the government which affected its ad revenues.[14]
PEN America strongly criticized the lawsuits filed against Mahfuz Anam, including as many as 83 lawsuits and 30 counts of criminal defamation lodged by members and supporters of theAwami League.[25] During theBangladesh Nationalist Party government in the 2000s, Anam faced defamation lawsuits from ruling BNP leaders. He was co-accused withMatiur Rahman, editor of the Bengali newspaperProthom Alo, in defamation cases filed bySalahuddin Quader Chowdhury. Anam was represented in court byKamal Hossain.
In 2016, speaking at a panel discussion onATN News,Mahfuz Anam admitted thatThe Daily Star ran stories fed to the newspaper by military intelligence outfitDGFI during the military-backed state of emergency and caretaker government in 2007 and 2008. The stories accused Awami League and BNP leaders of corruption.[26] A string of lawsuits were filed against Anam following his admission.
The newspaper's website was briefly blocked on 1 June 2018 after it reported theextrajudicialkilling of Ekramul Haque by members of theRapid Action Battalion.[27] The killing took place while the victim was speaking with his family on the phone. TheBangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) did not give any explanation for the block.
In February 2024, Executive Editor Syed Ashfaqul Haque and his wife Tania Khondoker were sent to jail after they surrendered to a court in Dhaka, following the death of a fifteen year old female maid at their house inMohammadpur Thana.[28][29] Haque and his wife faced charges ofchild abuse. The deceased maid was a teenage girl named Preeti Urang who worked as a servant in the house of the executive editor. Urang hailed from a tea garden worker's family inMoulvibazar District. Protests were held demanding justice for the girl's death.[30][31] The newspaper issued a formal apology over the incident.[32]
In December 2024, Simin Rahman ofTranscom Group was accused by his younger sister of embezzling her deceased father's shares through non-judicial stamp fraud.[33][34][35] On 18 May 2025, investigative reporter Elias Hossain published a report onYouTube, stating that Simin Rahman was unethically assisted by Prothom Alo editorMatiur Rahman and Daily Star'sMahfuz Anam in this matter along with doing false news reports.[36][37][38]Zulkarnain Saer Khan also criticised Matiur RahmanMahfuz Anam for involving in this matter, as well asProthom Alo and the Daily Star for propagating false news in support of it.[39]
Starting in May 1996,The Daily Star published a weekly magazine supplement titledThe Star every Friday.Aasha Mehreen Amin was the first editor of the magazine and continued in that capacity for 18 years.[40]The Star becameStar Weekend.[41]Elita Karim was the magazine's editor from 2015 to 2017.Star Weekend ceased publication on 29 November 2019, asThe Daily Star downsized to adapt to a changing media landscape.[42]
Reports on the demands of the students that were published on the Daily Star, often considered Bangladesh's newspaper of record, ....
Bangladesh: The first and most articles (19) appear in The Daily Star, often considered the newspaper of record.
Hard as it is to accept it, theStar Weekend magazine is about to close the curtain after an impressive run of 23 years.
Media related toThe Daily Star (Bangladesh) at Wikimedia Commons