The Daily Star (Bangladesh)

In the late 1980s, plans for a major English newspaper in Bangladesh were drawn up by Syed Mohammad Ali and Mahfuz Anam in Bangkok. Ali previously served as Editor of The Bangkok Post in Thailand and the Hong Kong Standard in British Hong Kong. Anam was working in UNESCO 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 the Awami League led by Sheikh Hasina and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) led by Khaleda Zia. It became the country's largest circulating English language newspaper and quickly overtook The Bangladesh Observer and Weekly Holiday. It gained a wide readership in Dhaka and Chittagong, particularly among the urban elites, the business community and the diplomatic community.

In 2007, The Daily Star editor Mahfuz Anam called out army chief General Moeen 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, an investigative report by The Daily Star implicated former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's son Tarique Rahman and close aides from Hawa Bhaban in the 2004 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 in The Daily Star as a pressure tactic because government ads 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 General Aziz Ahmed for controversial remarks in which Aziz suggested that criticizing the army chief was tantamount to criticizing Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.[15]

Only two years into launching of the newspaper, SM Ali died, and a young Anam, then the Executive Editor, was given the task of leading 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 the Mediaworld Limited. Anam has also been appointed as the chairperson of the owning company of The Daily Star following the death of his longstanding chairperson Rokeya Afzal Rahmanin 2023. Syed Ashfaqul Haque, who has been serving the newspaper in different capacities over 31 years, is the now the Executive Editor. He led the newsroom close to 20 years in the daily’s journey of becoming a highly credible media outlet.Aasha Mehreen Amin serves as the Joint Editor and Sushmitha Preetha as head of the Op-Ed section. Amin previously ran the paper's Star 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 on press freedom in Bangladesh.[16] It also faced pressure from the government which affected its ad revenues.[17] 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 the Awami League.[18] During the Bangladesh Nationalist Party government in the 2000s, Anam faced defamation lawsuits from ruling BNP leaders. He was co-accused with Matiur Rahman, editor of the Bengali newspaper Prothom Alo, in defamation cases filed by Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury. Anam was represented in court by Kamal Hossain.

In 2016, speaking at a panel discussion on ATN News, Mahfuz Anam admitted that The Daily Star ran stories fed to the newspaper by military intelligence outfit DGFI during the military-backed state of emergency and caretaker government in 2007 and 2008. The stories accused Awami League and BNP leaders of corruption.[19]

Cover of 1 February 2008

Starting in May 1996, The Daily Star published a weekly magazine supplement titled The Star every Friday. Aasha Mehreen Amin was the first editor of the magazine and continued in that capacity for 18 years.[21] The Star became Star Weekend.[22] Elita Karim was the magazine's editor from 2015 to 2017. Star Weekend ceased publication on 29 November 2019, as The Daily Star downsized to adapt to a changing media landscape.[23]

• List of newspapers in Bangladesh

• Official website