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A leading English daily newspaper has been barred by the ruling Awami League (AL) from covering its programmes. |
In a front-page report yesterday, The Daily Star complained that it was failing to cover the functions of the ruling AL, even those open to the press, without the party showing any reason.
A Daily Star reporter was asked to leave the AL president’s Dhanmondi office when he went there to cover a party meeting.
As the reporter entered the office premises, a guard wanted to know his identity. When told that he was from The Daily Star, the guard requested him to leave.
On Thursday, the AL invited the media to cover a press briefing at the same venue. But in a departure from standard practice, the newspaper was not
invited to the briefing.
Journalists from the print and electronic media, who went there to cover the event, were surprised when staff at the AL chief’s office inquired about their identities to make sure that no one from The Daily Star was there.
Interestingly, though the AL barred the daily from covering its programmes, the party in its official facebook page uploaded a cartoon published on daily’s front page on Thursday.
Contacted by the daily, AL assistant secretary Syed Abdul Awal Shamim said: “Don’t you know that there is an embargo on The Daily Star regarding coverage of our programmes. We are not inviting you to any AL events.”
When asked what had prompted the ruling party to make such a move, Shamim advised the correspondent to talk to either AL office secretary Abdus Sobhan Golap or assistant publicity secretary Asim Kumar Ukil. Though calls were made and SMS were sent to his mobile phone, there was no response from Golap.
Contacted over the phone, Ukil said: “The party has asked us to bar the Daily Star from covering events at party offices, Gonobhaban (the PM’s official residence) and the Prime Minister’s Office.”
Asked about the reasons behind it, Ukil declined to make any comment.
Meanwhile, Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu said there is no official order to prevent the daily from covering events at the PMO or the Gonobhaban.
“I cannot say why the Awami League is not allowing The Daily Star to cover party programmes. I have to know it first,” Inu told a Star reporter in parliament.
AL president’s media adviser Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury told the Star: “No official order has been issued to bar The Daily Star from covering these [events at the PMO, Gonobhaban, AL offices).”
“If there were any PM instructions in this respect, I would have been aware of them since I handle media affairs for the PM. As far as I know, there have been no such instructions,” he added.
The Daily Star and vernacular daily Prothom Alo have allegedly been blacklisted by the AL after they exposed graft charges against the ruling party candidates during the January 5 polls.