Opinion: Press freedom in Bangladesh needs more than tributes to Khalidi

Opinion column. Press freedom in Bangladesh deserves better than a week of warm obituaries. Toufique Imrose Khalidi, editor-in-chief of bdnews24.com, died in London on 2 October aged 59. The Daily Star and The Business Standard both report a brain haemorrhage.

The facts of his career are on the record. He founded bdnews24.com in 2006, according to The Business Standard. He had worked at the BBC and at a Bangladeshi broadsheet before that. His site built a partnership with The New York Times on a magazine project. Dhaka Tribune reports that the President has praised his contribution to journalism.

Press freedom in Bangladesh after Khalidi

Tributes are right and deserved. But grief should not become a substitute for policy. The same Dhaka Tribune front page reported that media organisations counted 162 attacks, threats and acts of harassment against journalists in three months. I cannot verify that count independently. Even so, it points at a daily reality for reporters.

A free press is not a favour from the powerful. It is a public service. Readers learn about dengue, fuel prices and land disputes because someone asked questions. When reporters fear a mob or a lawsuit, they ask fewer questions. The public then knows less.

The government has a simple choice. It can honour Khalidi with speeches, or it can act. Action means prosecuting attackers, protecting reporters at risk and ending the use of vague laws to silence critics. It also means respecting editors’ independence when coverage is uncomfortable.

Newsrooms must also reflect. Online news changed how Bangladeshis read the world, and Khalidi helped lead that change. The next generation of editors needs training, secure pay and legal support. Without these, quality reporting becomes a hobby for the lucky.

Courts elsewhere have shown that press rights can be defended. Our report on a judge restoring reporters’ access in Washington shows how legal checks can work. Dhaka needs its own checks.

The best memorial to an editor is a country where his reporters work safely. That is the standard to meet.

Fact basis: The Daily Star and The Business Standard obituaries of 2 October 2026; Dhaka Tribune report of 3 October 2026. This is an opinion column. The 162-incident figure is as reported by Dhaka Tribune and was not independently verified.