Every six months the government's Department of Films and Publications (DFP) under the Ministry of Information publishes lists of the English and Bangla language newspapers eligible for government advertisement.
The list published by the DFP on August 1, 2024 -- one of the last things done by the outgoing AL regime that fell on August 5 -- of the 30 English-language dailies eligible for running government ads is something of a shocker. Even as the country was reeling under the crisis of the uprising that had by then taken hundreds of lives, the government apparently still had time for manipulation and corruption when it came to awarding government advertisements.
What do you suppose is the most popular English language newspaper in Bangladesh? Most people would guess – correctly – that it is The Daily Star.
If you were asked to list the next most popular ones you would probably include Financial Express, Dhaka Tribune, TBS, and New Age, and you would not be wrong.
Both in terms of sales as well as credibility and reputation, these five have established themselves as the top English language newspapers in the country.
Oddly, therefore, the government’s Department of Films and Publications (DFP) does not see it that way. The DFP audits and rates the newspapers every six months, and bases the rates it offers for government ads on this half-yearly audit.
For many years, this list has been topped by The Daily Star, as one would expect. Until recently.
In the list published by the DFP on August 1, 2024 not only is the top slot taken by the Daily Tribunal, but the number two slot is taken by the Daily Industry and the third slot by Bangladesh News. This has never been the case before for the simple reason that these newspapers barely have any readers. Indeed, it is an open question whether they can be said to even exist in any meaningful way.
Listing them in the top three positions can only be explained by virtue of corruption and as a result of political patronage. The higher a newspaper is on the list the higher the rate it receives for government ads.
The Daily Tribunal government ad rate is Tk 543 per column/inch whereas The Daily Star ad rate is Tk 482 and Dhaka Tribune is Tk 440. That means the Daily Tribunal receives more than 10% more per ad than The Daily Star and almost 20% more than Dhaka Tribune. These differences add up.
While the DFP list has never been perfect and there has always been some level of politicization in its formulation, with newspapers with politically influential owners often ranking higher than would be expected, there was always a limit to corruption.
The brazen promotion of politically connected newspapers that few have ever heard of and fewer still have ever read that we see in the August 1 is something new.
By way of comparison, here was the previous list, published in December 2023:
- Daily Star
- Financial Express
- Dhaka Tribune, Daily Observer, Daily Sun
- Bangladesh Post
- Asian Age, TBS
- New Age, New Nation
While some might quibble at one or two of the assignations, most would agree that these are the top ten English language newspapers in Bangladesh and that the list is in general defensible, if not perfect.
Compare the August 1 list:
- Daily Tribunal
- Daily Industry
- Bangladesh News
- Daily Star
- Financial Express
- Dhaka Tribune, Daily Observer, Daily Sun
Basically, the top 3 newspapers have simply been catapulted to the top of the list and pushed everyone down.
Previously, The Daily Tribunal and Daily Industry government ad rate was Tk. 392 per column/inch, while the rate was not mentioned for Bangladesh News in that list. But after their graduation to top three spots in the August 1 list this year, these papers are now enjoying much higher ad rates – Tk. 543 (Tribunal), Tk. 538 (Industry) and Tk. 533 (Bangladesh News). These newspapers are published by Shiharan Rashid, Enayet Karim and Mustafa Kamal Mohiuddin, respectively.
