Newspaper editors here on Saturday said young journalists should carry forward the torch lit by late Golam Sarwar and AHM Moazzem Hossain to improve the standard of journalism in Bangladesh.
The due respect to the two veteran editors would be shown only when the young journalists follow their path and ideology in journalism, said editors of the country’s renowned newspapers in a condolence meeting held at the Jatiya Press Club.
Editors’ Council organised the meeting to commemorate former Editor of Daily Samakal Golam Sarwar and former Editor of The Financial Express who died in early August this year.
While speaking at the programme, The Daily Star Editor Mahfuz Anam said the two journalists brought different dimensions in Bangladesh journalism through their creativity, wisdom and skills.
To pay tributes to them, people have to realise the role they had played in journalism as well as think about how they became institutions through their works, said Mahfuz Anam, also the General Secretary of the Editors’ Council.
Acting Editor of Daily Samakal Mustafiz Shafi said necessary steps should be taken so that country’s people can always remember these two journalists.
Chief Editor of Manab Zamin Matiur Rahman Chowdhury said the deaths of the two renowned editors made an irreparable loss to the field of journalism in Bangladesh as there is no alternative to these two personalities.
Country’s journalism is going through various crises at the moment and Digital Act is one of them, he said adding that Golam Sarwar in his lifetime was always vocal against the act.
Editor of the Daily Prothom Alo Matiur Rahman said in the current circumstances, the newspapers have to continue their work facing ‘various pressures and through self-censorship’.
In this situation, the editors and publishers of newspapers have a role to play while the presence of Golam Sarwar and AHM Moazzem Hossain would have been more supportive, he added.
Jatiya Press Club General Secretary Farida Yasmin said the press club might take an initiative to publish a book on the writings of the two editors with support from the Editors’ Council.
Former News Today Editor Reaz Uddin Ahmed said the contributions of the two late editors are unforgettable. “It’s our duty to follow their works and enrich the country’s journalism like they did,” he added.
Acting Editor of the Financial Express Shahiduzzaman, Editor of the Daily Independent Shamsur Rahman, Editor of the New Age Nurul Kabir, Acting Editor of the Daily Jugantar Saiful Alam and President of the National Press Club Muhammad Shafiqur Rahman, among others, spoke on the occasion.
source: UNB
