JaiJaidin’s new editor in the embodiment of the pathetic condition that is currently prevailing in Bangladesh media industry as well as the country as a whole. The founder editor of the newspaper, Shafiq Rehman has been removed without getting the chance to make the slightest noise about it. This is the same Shafiq rehman who single handedly discredited and exposed the character of ex army dictator Ershad. While other big editors of that time became big fan of Ershad’s poems, this Rehman defied Ershad, got ejected from Bangladesh, his paper banned twice and had the electric/water connection of his father’s home disconnected by government. It was the same Shafiq Rehman who was the first and most forceful critique of Magura bye-election rigging during 1st BNP govt of 91-96. The JaiJaidin cover story ‘Ma–Gura’ paved the way for Care taker govt movement and fall of first BNP govt. This same Rehman was the instrumental force in establishing Valentine’s Day tradition in Bangladesh and he energized the youth in 2001 to bring BNP back to power.
The new editor replacing Shafiq rehman, literally brought from the street (unknown song writer, film extra supplier of FDC) started writing pro-army editorials on a daily basis. The quality of those editorials are, IMHO, worse than a fifth grader’s writing. Wise men say that it is better to have intelligent enemy than a fool friend. Post Shafiq Rehman Jaijaidin has now turned itself into one such fool friend of DGFI government. One such stupidity was this JJD editorial by one Barun Shankar.
This editorial exposes the background info of the editors’ joint statement against gag on press freedom, the removal of Shafiq Rehman, the resignation of Ataus Samad from NTV, the recent series of resignation of editors like Amanullah Kabir of Amar Desh and Golam sarwar of Jugantor. It also explains why New Age management published a statement denying any pressure of removing its editor Nurul Kabir.
This editorial, in a complaining tone (Complain to army bosses), describes, verbatim, what were told in the editors meeting. It clarifies that the meeting was convened by Editor Nurul Kabir and Motiur Rahman Chowdhury. It quotes journalist Ataus Samad how DGFI officers sat on set and completely directed/ wrote script the NTV late night talk show of 1/11/08. This JJD editorial also quotes Ataus Samad/ Nurul Kabir on how JJD owner was forced by DGFI to have Shafik rehman fired and New Age management pressurized to replace Nurul Kabir by Iqbal Sohban Chowdhury.
From this editorial we also know that some electronic media directors were asked by DGFI not to show up in this meeting. Although it was two day conference, as per this JJD piece, Editors Mafuz Anam, Motiur Rahman and Rahat Khan of Ittefaq did not attend the meeting of second day.
It is not very clear how accurate the information given in this editorial, but looking at the proceeding events, the story seems true to account.
Does the word gestapo ring a bell? Have we gone back to gestapo era?
In the Middle of Nowhere 
May 17, 2008 at 5:46 am
The Jai Jai Din Editorial by Barun is good. It’s good. I like it. I like to watch “Shrek”, “Final Fantasy”, I also like that editorial by Barun Shankar. I like cartoons.
May 17, 2008 at 7:02 am
This Barun Shankar either is extremely smart or the dumbest of the dumb.
May 17, 2008 at 9:42 am
Is Iqbal Sohban Chowdhury related to Rehman Sobhan and/or Zafar and Farooq Sobhan?
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Where is big noise from real predujiced tool like CPJ???
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Here is the comments from Motiur Rahman on DGFI interferance on news media
Prothom Alo editor Motiur Rahman said, ‘This is no exception. Newspapers were under pressure even during political governments.’
The Daily Star editor Mahfuz Anam refused to comment.
http://www.newagebd.com/2008/may/13/front.html#11
May 17, 2008 at 12:16 pm
We were told that moeen is visiting greece to attend an international olympic committee conference in greece.
IOC website and the IOC calender does not show any scheduled conference between may 12 ang may17.
channel i reported that he has reached Kuwait today.
what was he doing in greece on an official visit to greece?
It is funny that after taking over Bangladesh, he has made it a habit to go abraod, whenever his son is on vacation.
There was no single news item showing him addressing any conference in last few days.
May 17, 2008 at 11:28 pm
# 3 … no relation … nor are we related to the sobhans of bashundhara fame either! 🙂
May 18, 2008 at 5:41 am
Prothom Alo’s Motiur Rahman is one of most noted hypocrites ever appeared in Bangladesh. Prothom Alo readers think to be a fancy faction of the society by being in the ‘Prothom Alo Poribar’. But they will never know that they are proud of a newspaper which cares about the interest of Bangladesh by no mean. Considering top-circulation newspaper of Bangladesh, Prothom Alo is the highest-rated prostitute type newspaper ever appeared in Bangladesh. It has put a milestone from which their successors in coming generations will learn how to get sold with the best price and how to ruin the country in where they live.
May 18, 2008 at 5:53 am
Mahfuz Anam & Motiur Rahman, both of these are of the same boat. But as lier, Motiur I guess is more vicious than Mahfuz or anybody in their position.
May 19, 2008 at 3:03 am
Ahem.. “The JaiJaidin cover story ‘Ma–Gura’ paved the way for Care taker govt movement and fall of first BNP govt.”
Ei stretch ta ektu beshi hoye gelo na? :).
Rag koiren na. Just kidding.
How about an independent blog post on Shafiq Rehman, Rumi bhai along the same lines of the ones that you did with our editor duo often ? Your thoughts on his committment to fairness, journalistic ethics and to democracy and his honesty? Shafiq Rehman used to be our hero once. Ki holo tarpor?
In relation to comment 3, I have found organizations like CPJ to be very inefficient and superficial. Currently they do not have any Bangladesh researcher and they depend mostly on their bangladeshi source. I am not sure who their source is but I know of at least one organization where their Bangladeshi rep is Naimul Islam Khan of AS. You can understand then what sort of information they will get.
Another bit of interesting news I heard that the former news editor of CSB has now joined RTV. Aparently RTV is being retooled as a news channel and a lot of investment is going in. Rumour is rife that it is also funded by you know who.
May 19, 2008 at 4:51 am
Mr Shankar seems to know his history well. During the Raj, whenever Mahatma Gandhi would start an uprising, the government would ban any news coverage of the movements. Anti-imperialist newspapers would respond with very long editorials that listed everything Mahatma had said, and the details of all the hartals etc, before finishing with a sentence like ‘we denounce Mr Gandhi’s speeches and actions’.
Rumi bhai, you missed perhaps Shafiq Rehman’s biggest achievement. In a world where people hear the name Zia and think of Khaleda/Tarek and where Taher and Khaled Musharraf are portrayed as allies, Mr Rehman’s writing from nearly 30 years ago stand with historic significance. Before it was a 2nd rate daily or a pale shadow of its former self, Jai Jai Din was an important piece of resistance in the 1980s, as you mention. But even before that, it was a ‘novel’ set in Ziaur Rahman’s Bangladesh. Its characters are affluent urbanites, much like most of the regulars in the blogosphere. It shows their reactions to the political, socio-economic and cultural developments of the era – I hope 30 years from now, most of our blog posts would give as much information to the future readers. It shows the complexities of Zia’s regime – an army general who wasn’t afraid to shed his uniform and face the rough and tumble of politics, but who still used state intelligence agencies to ‘get things done’, a widely popular leader who still felt insecured enough to deny his predecessors their rightful places in history. If you think nuance is missing on a typical discussion on Zia, you should read Jai Jai Din. If you’re too young to have a political appreciation of the era (as is the case for me), you should read Jai Jai Din.
Asif, it’s a very good question what happened to him. I’d hazard a guess that for most in the ‘left’, he went ashtray in 1998-99 when he started supporting BNP. I have a different perspective. I think his ‘switch’ to BNP was a very positive thing. The broad tent of BNP needed people who would want to introduce Valentine’s Day to balance the influence of those who would see Hindu-Zionist conspiracy in Valetine’s Day. I think he went ashtray when he started defending the indefensibles – Clean Heart / crossfire / RAB as ‘necessary measures’ and reports about the jihadi terror as ‘foreign propaganda’. Perhaps he could say ‘I needed to do this if I wanted to maintain Hawa Bhaban’s ear’. Perhaps his defence is ‘I’d rather tow the party line and try to improve things from within than be confrontational and be shut out of any position of influence’. But then, couldn’t Messrs Anam and Matiur Rahman say exactly the same things?
May 19, 2008 at 5:50 am
#8
from its programming, it is very clear whose purpose RTV serves nowadays. even before being screened on BTV, patriotic songs about armed forces are shown on this channel as if on a test run with a smaller audience. so far, i have seen songs abt army, bdr, and air force. navy’r gaanta mone hoy jahaj kore ashchey!
May 19, 2008 at 5:53 am
10, what is the new version of notun bangladesh gorbo mora?
May 19, 2008 at 7:28 am
#8
Yes, it sounded a little too much that a single cover story has paved the fall of a government.
But it is true that that story was told in a very forceful and protracted way. I still recall that fresh copy of that JaiJaiDin and how JJD, deviating from its Dhaka centric gossips/ analyses, started reporting from a remote election scene. JJD reporters virtually lived in Magura for weeks and gave hour by hour developments from different vantage points. JJD did not stop in that issue, they kept on harping on it through the months to come.
Usually a remote elction rigging gets one day single column newspaper coverage. But JJD brought Magura to Dhaka drawing rooms to make it a point to start a movement on.
Loosely speaking, Rehman may be linked to Ershad’s fall in 90 and BNP govt’s fall in 96 as DS/PA can be linked to 1/11.
Rehman was one of the first editor to formally endorse a party in election.
His role post 2001, which I see as blind support of BNP government, was pathetic. Although he tried to rationalize his stand several ways, his failure to protest the wrongdoings can not be justified.
Everytime the issue came, I expressed my distaste of his editorial policy in my writings last several years.
Now he is a fallen man. Humiliated, defeated, just lost his magmum opus to an unknown guy. My criticimsm at this time will be better directed at someone more harmful.
Only for the sake of fairness. I do not believe in throwing a punch at ‘Jodu’ everytime I criticize the crimes of ‘kodu’
[ On a side note, unfortunately, the man at the center of the Ma-Gura storm was the BNP candidate Kazi Salimul Haq Kamal. He is now an accused in GATCO. And this man’s pioneering business idea made my student life easier. He first introduced very cheap Econo ball point pen. When a blocked fountain pen was a nightmare for a examinee, disposable ball point pens at 3 tk piece was an eye popping convenience. In Bangladesh probably business success/innivation and corruption go side by side. ]
May 19, 2008 at 3:34 pm
I remember the days when we used to wait for every Tuesday for JJD to arrive during the ershad days. Read up Tariq Ibrahim’s write up, assessment and Diner por Din. Even in the 90s, I used to scan JJD pieces and put it up on the web. How the hero has fallen! Every body in our country compromises for halua ruti at the end of the day. Sheesh.
May 30, 2008 at 7:42 am
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June 10, 2008 at 1:05 pm
[…] Ahmed della testata In the Middle of Nowhere scava ancora più a fondo: Un editoriale del Jai Jai Din [in bengali] cita le dichiarazioni di […]
June 24, 2008 at 6:31 pm
JaiJai din has lost the neutrality and the spice it used to hold . The current editor in charge “Idiot-ul Haque” writes nothing but trash – extremely biased towrads the CTG. I had no other choice but to stop paying for the paper – We don’t want another Janakantha /Prothom-Alo/ Jugantor. DGFI must stop this nonsense!!
August 7, 2008 at 10:45 am
Shafik Rehman is the person who always made remarks in favour of country’s greater interest.Yes It’s very true that his voice was not raised enough against last BNP govt. regime.But he criticized the all evil events modestly.We people are devided into three groups: Fundamentalist, proindian and moderate.Fundamentalist people do not make remarks against Pakistan’s henious toture and want to keep people(sp. women)backwards.Proindian people never found India’s polytics against Bangladesh,They never think that Bnagladesgh is achieved by our freedom fighter, lot of whom shed their blood,proindian people think Bnagladesh only created by India and India is our father.They never say against Farakka,Common Bangladeshi people killed by BSF,they like to hide that India want to capture gradually Bnagladesh.Did our freedom fighter fight for liberation to make Bangladesh a part of India?India always wants teransit of 613km(could not remeber actual fig) but did not want to give 13km transit (during Zia’s peroid).I would like to draw attention of latest Rice polytics of India for SIDR stricken people.Our common people is religious but not orthdox.We are difinitely moderate muslim country.I must say vigorously that our common people do not contain leftist mentality,they want to remain religious in a liberal manner.Our media is supported by LETIST group who oftenly confused Country’s well being with India’s interest what eventually may lose all for us.Should we accept the fate like Sicim?Moderate people are really worried about country’s future.How can we get rid of becoming victim of international and neighbour polytics.It is really a great concern.Among our media personnel Shafik Rehman is fully concious about it.jaijaidin is now captured by proindian group.They have started singing in favour of India’s interst for transit and pointing out middleeast’s view for Bnagladesh not saying India’s desire about Bangladesh.Jaijaidin is now trying to mislead people.We must be concerned about all kinds of agression, not only pakistan not only middleeast, We have to identify all enimies.All the polytics are being gone in favour of proindians.There should not be held referendum before giving transit and natural resources to India?Shafik Rehman is that media person who always gudie people in the right direction.Jaijaidin is now misleading people tactfully.
September 1, 2008 at 1:29 am
Today we saw India Bangladesh Sec level meeting with the outcome favored towards India. India always wants to bully us instead of playing a fair game. We need to be cautious when dealing with India – Ora amader bhatey ebong panitey martey chai. Cattle smuggler boley nirbicahery Bangladeshi marchey, Bangaldeseher bhokhondey dhukey BDR key guli korar dhrishtota dekhai, Paharider der exploit korey state er against e use korey , Chinhito Shontrasi der RAW Kolkata/Delhi tey aramey thakar bpndobosto korey [Doo ekta chor chechor ferot diye boley ebar oder Anup chetia ke Chai – When he is jailed under our system and we donot have any extradition treaty with them 🙂 abdarer kokno shima nai], Talpatti key Onajjo bhabey dhokol korey nei, Bangladeshi ponno India tey tarif face korai,BeruBari niye feley kintoo Tin Bigha “lease” dei [In dierct violation of indira-mujib pact], Asian Highway er namey transit chai [but 13 KM transit to Nepal, Bhutan Deny Korey], Farraka testing phase er 40 dinkey 400 bochorer boley chaliye jai , …..,…., and Many more – NONE THESE SHOW FRIENDLY NEIGHBORLY ATTITUDE BY India. Amader RAW/India palito BudhiJibi ra Kono tu shobdota porjonto Korey Na – Eder Shob Dosh Pakistaner Gharey – They do not talk about how India Hijacked our Muktijudho as their Indo-Pak war and how they used us to get their concessions for Kashmir from Pakistan. We were used before by India and we will be in furture. Pakistan 1500 mile durey thekey amader Joto na khoti koresey O kortey parey tar thekey hajar goon besi khoti hoyese amader Friendly neghbor India thekey. Ekhon bangladeshey Kono potrika dekhina jara unbiased way te amader strategic bhabe guide korey. Bortoman Army Led Govt. er gono bhitti na thakar shujog niye ekahneo India Dadagiri korsey – anajjo bhabey tader shubidha adai korsey ebong kortey chachey [ex. Air cargo transit to 7 sisters was approved by the CTG]. Shefiq rehman, Nurul Kabir promukh journalist eshob bishoi media tey tuley dhorar chesta korey jonomot gorar chesta koreychey and they are paying for it. When most other editors are paying lip service to the Army +CTG by maligning political parties and the 2 leaders [I know they failed to a degree to fulfill our aspirations within the stipulated period yet they are [i.e. the parties they represent] are our basis to a prosperous Bangladesh.] We must admit the facts and give more credits to the two top leaders. Khaleda , Hasina jotoi kharap kaj korook na keno they took the two political parties into national levels – they represent the two streams of ideology that balance each other as it should in a democratic and pluralistics Bangladesh.
As Democracy is a process , it takes times with iterative learning curves. Aar 10 years e election er through diye Govt change holey amader political party would have matured more – er jonno 1/11 i.e. ba US-INdia supported Army backed caretaker govt er proyojon hoto na. Jara Democracy key jump start ditey chai tara bhojey na [ba tader Nater Guru US-India er chamcha ra shetta aral korey rakhey] jump start diye gari cholleo ta abar theme jabey – bodh kori 2 bochor er shesh shomoy eshey Army + CTG er shei bodhodoi hoyeche. Shefiq Rehman er shesh koyekti editorial porley bojha jai tar analysis shothik chilo. Aar ejonnoi amder oneykei tar lekha JAIJAIDIN editorial report miss kori. Many malise SR to be an misguided opportunists [specially after his BNP support (though it was not a Blind support like Janakantha/P.alo)] But I strongly disagree with them. I believe in the coming years we will see some of the predictions he made come true as those were based on facts and unbiased analysis. And that’s the strength he carries as a good journalist.
I wish him the best and wait for his return to JaiJaiDin.
Amra Bangladeshi hishebe shoodhu etookooi chi jeno deshkey
December 23, 2008 at 12:44 am
# 18
Thanks for unleashing the truth abt Shafiq Rehman. Had we been blessed with some more persons like him, our intelligentsia, who r practicing the rice field culture in this country and inflicting those relentlessly to the mass, would have been dwindled gradually…but we r not that fortunate to have a ‘country first’ group to show the way….
January 13, 2009 at 8:48 pm
When the whole country is following a direction, this Jai Jai Din news paper has a pathetic attitude which is not appreciated. But we like Shefiq Rahman because Shafik Rehman is the person who always made remarks in favour of country’s greater interest. Yes It’s very true that his voice was not raised enough against last BNP govt. regime. But he criticized the all evil events modestly and got punished. Now time has changed, the wind of change and hope is blowing, he should come back and play his courageous role and raise his voice in a democratic process.
August 6, 2010 at 7:47 am
Shafik Rehman is a talent & legend jounalist of this country.Why he left Jai Jai Din,we have to find the fact.