Online Journalism in the Developing World:

the Case of Bangladesh

Fahmidul Haq

I n Western and developed countries, many print newspapers have stopped

publishing, but journalism continues on in cyberspace. Even if the print version
is not completely shut down, newspapers are strengthening their online
versions. Increasingly, new online news sites are being created without any cor-
responding print version. In addition to these two types of news media – online
and print – there are also instances of either independent or alternative news
media in cyberspace. Such independent news media do not have the backing
of corporate investment, but practice conventional journalism, often offering
a radical or left-leaning perspective. These new examples of online journalism
can also be seen in developing countries, but their practices might be seen as
slightly different to their Western counterparts. In the Third World and devel-
oping countries, internet penetration is lower than in Western countries; hence
online journalism is developing more slowly there. Indeed, in many countries
print media is still expanding. However, online journalism is gaining traction
even in developing countries.
Following the invention of World Wide Web by Tim Berners-Lee, online
newspapers and other online news media grew rapidly, especially during the last
half of the 1990s. The hypertext links and other hyper-media elements of the
Web enabled the placement of text, graphics, audio, and video onto the same
site. This prompted news media organisations to offer live and archived content
on their websites, and opened the door to online journalism. New technology
has always influenced and sometimes brought changes to the mode of production
and patterns of journalism, and, as John V. Pavlik highlights, journalism has al-
ways been shaped by technology (Pavlik 2001). The genre of online journalism 177
differs from traditional journalism, and it is the technological options available
that have created these differences. Deuze and Paulussen have summarized in
 ONLINE JOURNALISM IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD

their research that this new type of journalism is based on ideas of speed and
immediacy, hypertext and multimedia, and the more traditional roles of jour-
nalism – such as gatekeeping and agenda-setting – are becoming less important
(Deuze & Paulussen 2002; cited in Mitchelstein & Boczkowiski 2009, 571).
The first instance of online journalism was the online version of an es-
tablished newspaper, first with only the news published on the site, but later
with user-generated content, such as providing blogging options for readers.
The Chicago Tribune (www.chicagotribune.com) was the first newspaper to
go online when it began providing same-day editorial content to AOL in May
1992 (Carlson 2003; cited in Garrison 2005, 5). Now almost every renowned
newspaper in the world has an online version, and many of them have different
sections that appear only on the online version of the newspapers.
A few alternative and independent news sites are changing the face of
journalism in cyberspace. Among them, Independent Media Centre (IMC)
and WikiLeaks have set examples of alternative journalism. The IMC was
launched by anti-globalization activists while protesting against a meeting at
the World Trade Centre (WTO) in Seattle in 1999. Through the IMC, these
activists-turned-journalists introduced open source reporting, a new kind
of journalism free from market forces or government control. There are now
over 150 independent media centres situated in about 45 countries across six
continents (Allan 2006, 126). Because of global networking and its larger size,
IMC has not only become a unique example of participatory journalism, it has
democratized the news media. WikiLeaks initially leaked secret files relating to
Afghanistan, the Iraq War, and later US state department’s diplomatic “cables”.
The “leaks”, published through globally renowned newspapers like The New York
Times or The Guardian, received special attention from the general readership.
However, some people consider the activities of the site as mere “leaking” or
“hacking”. However, Julian Assange, the founder and editor-in-chief of the site,
claims it is a news organization. The website describes itself as a “not-for-profit
media organisation”, and its “goal is to bring important news and information
to the public”. Sites such as IMC and WikiLeaks are radically changing the
pattern of journalism.

Online Journalism in the Developing World

178
Online journalism is also growing in the Third World, although internet
penetration is lower in comparison with the Western world. Though there are
 FAHMIDUL HAQ

an increasing number of online journalism practices with traditional journalistic

ethics and norms, it is the vibrant participation of citizen journalists in the
dissemination of news and information that is really significant. This is perhaps
the first time in the world that an internet user has access to “self mass
communication” as Manuel Castells (2007) says, and users are engaged in
“horizontal communication”. Even the relationship between the source and the
receiver has been altered; the receiver has gained the same power as the sender.
There are some good examples of radical online journalism practices in the
Third World. One such site is OhMyNews, which offered “a combination of
the merits of the blog and the merits of newspaper” (Scofield 2004; cited in
Allan 2006, 130).
The South Korean online news site OhMyNews has become a global
example of effective participatory journalism. OhMyNews began in February
2000 with the explicit objective of bringing about a shift in the balance of media
power in South Korea (Hauben, not dated). Allan mentions a comment by Oh
Yeon-ho, the founder of the site. While discussing participatory journalism, he
talked about saying farewell to 20th-century Korean journalism, and consid-
ered the possibility that every citizen could be a reporter (Allan 2006).
In another place, Oh Yeon-ho says:

Every citizen is a reporter. Journalists aren’t some exotic species,

they’re everyone who seeks to take new developments, put them into
writing, and share them with others. … Privileged reporter who come
together to form massive news media wielded power over the whole
process of news production, distribution and consumption.
(Yeon-ho 2004; cited in Hauben, not dated.)

Articles that were accepted were fact-checked, edited, and then published.
The citizen reporters whose articles appeared on OhMyNews were paid a small fee.
This “guerrilla strategy”, as Oh describes it, has indeed proven to be remarkably
successful, not only financially – rather unusually for an online news organi-
zation – but also in journalistic terms within Korean society (Allan 2006, 129).
The priority for news coverage in OhMyNews is given to politics and society,
as well as international news, business, and culture. But the specific aim of the
site was to target corruption and privilege. OhMyNews has really brought 179
innovation to journalistic culture through a revolution in the culture of news
production, delivery, and consumption.
 ONLINE JOURNALISM IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD

Citizen journalism not only serves a purpose for political news; some-
times, social networking sites may be used as the platform to bring a political
change in society. The inventors of Facebook or Twitter, perhaps, never thought
that their “non-political” networking sites would be used to bring about polit-
ical change in different countries. The forum of casual friendship turned into a
platform for protesters. It was the creativity of people that led to the adoption
of these sites as a platform on which to share opinions, design political pro-
grammes, and update and broadcast their movements when ousting repressive
regimes in North Africa and the Middle East. This movement of establishing
democratic rights is now known as the Arab Spring.
The Arab Spring may be infected by the involvement of foreign imperialist
forces, but the desire of the Middle Eastern people for democracy is very signif-
icant in contemporary global political history. The movement started when a
young vegetable merchant, Mohammed Bouazizi, set himself on fire in front of
a municipal building as a protest against unemployment and corruption in the
Tunisian government. Bouazizi’s self immolation was one of several stories told
and retold on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube in ways that inspired dissidents
to organize protests, criticize their governments, and spread ideas about de-
mocracy (Howard 2011). After analysing more than 3 million tweets, gigabytes
of YouTube content, and thousands of blog posts, a study from the University
of Washington found that social media played a central role in shaping political
debates in the Arab Spring. Focused mainly on Tunisia and Egypt, and led by
Philip Howard (Howard 2011), the study showed that social media was used
heavily by a key demographic group in the revolution: young, urban, relatively
well educated individuals, many of whom were women. Bloggers also used the
internet to publish information that was critical of the governments in Egypt
and Tunisia. The activists used social media to connect with others outside
their own countries. They attracted followers in other countries where similar
democratic protests would later erupt. The report says:

We find that there were over 2,200 tweets from Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt,
Morocco, and Yemen about Ben Ali’s resignation on the day he stepped
aside. Over the course of a week before Mubarak’s resignation, the total
rate of tweets from Egypt – and around the world – about political
180 change in that country ballooned from 2,300 a day to 230,000 a day.
Interestingly, the relative contribution of people not living in the region
diminished significantly over this period. On the day Mubarak left office,
 FAHMIDUL HAQ

February 11, there were more than 225,000 tweets outside the country
that spread the news of his departure. In the two weeks after Mubarak’s
resignation, there were an average of 3,400 tweets a day about the political
crisis in Egypt by people living in neighbouring countries. (Howard 2011.)

The report also says “our evidence suggests that online conversations played
an integral part in the revolutions that toppled governments in Egypt and
Tunisia. We find that conversations about liberty, democracy, and revolution
on blogs and on Twitter often immediately preceded mass protests. In Tunisia,
for example, 20 percent of blogs were evaluating Ben Ali’s leadership on the day
he resigned from office (January 14), up from just 5 percent the month before.
Subsequently, the primary topic for Tunisian blogs was “revolution” until a
public rally of at least 100,000 people took place and eventually forced the old
regime’s remaining leaders to relinquish power.” (Howard 2011)
However, social media was not used in the same manner and intensity
in every country. A Guardian report said, “if Twitter had negligible influence
on events in Tunisia, the same could not be said for Egypt. A far more mature
and extensive social media environment played a crucial role in organizing the
uprising against Mubarak, whose government responded by ordering mobile
service providers to send text messages rallying his supporters.” (Beaumont
2011) In Egypt, details of demonstrations were circulated on both Facebook
and Twitter, and the activists’ 12-page guide to confronting the regime was dis-
tributed by email.
In Tunisia, attempts were made to block Facebook and other social media
sites, and arrest bloggers and others who used social media to spread criticism
of the government. In Egypt, too, the government attempted to shut down the
internet and cell phone network. But the movement went on. The Guardian
report says that the Mubarak regime – like Ben Ali’s before it – pulled the plug
on the country’s internet services and 3G network. What social media was
replaced by – oddly enough – was the analogue equivalent of Twitter: handheld
signs held aloft at demonstrations saying where and when people should gather
the next day (Beaumont 2011).
In Asia, there were 11 newspapers reported as publishing on the web as
early as 1995 (Carlson 1995; cited in Contreras and Maslog, not dated). Today
most of the Asian countries practice online journalism. Research (Xiaoge, not 181
dated) carried out on nine Asian news websites from nine countries (Singapore,
Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, India, Japan, South Korea and China)
 ONLINE JOURNALISM IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD

analysed the features of the online newspapers. Online features such as a blog,
podcasts, vodcasts, wikis, Flash, RSS, and Instant Messenger were all utilised
in designing and delivering news online, allowing greater user participation,
user-generated content, and the creation of user-friendly online environments.
The results of the research show that Asian online journalists have not received
any substantial or solid training in online journalism and publishing. Most of
them had simply been transferred from the traditional newsroom to the online
newsroom without further training in web journalism. The knowledge gap
about web publishing encountered by journalists – especially the gatekeepers
of the site – had left the sites less attractive and less user-friendly. Broadband is
still something luxury in much of Asia – in such an environment websites cannot
run complex graphics. For this reason, news sites often look simpler from a
graphical and design perspective. The sites show that more “media-rich” web
features were used on the homepage than on story pages. Another reality is that
the moment a page goes online, the site becomes a rival of the parent newspaper.
It is perhaps internal competition that has stopped Asian news media from
fully utilizing available web features in the design and delivery of online news.
Indian media made its first tentative foray into cyberspace in 1996.
The Hindu, The Times of India, and The Indian Express were among the first few
newspapers to set up websites (Saxena 2004, 1). During the first stage of online
journalism in India, the websites were low-tech and did not carry all the news
featured in the newspaper. There was also no round-the-clock updating. Sunil
Saxena (2004) defined three stages of online journalism in India. In stage one
(1996–1998) the general opinion was that online journalism held tremendous
potential, but its time was yet to come. In the second stage (1999–2000), for the
first time since the arrival of the internet in India, newspaper publishers started
looking seriously at the web. An important step was the setting up of inde-
pendent companies to handle internet operations. The Times of India, and The
Hindustan Times were among the first to do this. This period also witnessed the
arrival of new news media companies in cyberspace, for example, Rediff.com,
which was the first to set up a major news site in the early nineties, strength-
ened its operations. Other sites providing news were Sify.com, Indya.com, and
Indiainfo.com. Television companies also made their presence felt on the net
with NDTV and Zee News playing a significant role. In stage three (2001 on-
182 wards), although the dotcom bubble burst, internet usage was still increasing
even in small towns, and consequently online journalism began gaining pop-
ular acceptance. The media houses set up portals to cater to the needs of their
 FAHMIDUL HAQ

users. Indiatimes.com from the Times Group, Hindustantimes.com from the

Hindustan Times Group, and Indiavarta.com from the New Indian Express
Group are examples of how media publishers diversified in order to capture
larger audiences.
There were also a few independent news sites in India based only on the
web. Tehelca.com – established in 2000 – found prominence because of its in-
vestigative reporting. It first received local recognition in 2001 when it exposed
match fixing in Indian professional cricket. The same year, an investigation into
Operation Westend – defence procurement programme – received international
attention, and led to the resignation of the Indian Defence Minister. In 2012,
the former BJP President, Bhangaru Laxman, was sentenced to imprisonment
after the court found the Tehelka sting was valid and Laxman had taken a bribe.
After this, Tehelka began publishing as a print version as well.

Bangladesh Perspectives

Bangladesh is a country of low internet penetration1, however, it has a substantial

amount of people online. Most of the internet users look for news online, and
sometimes they create or share it. As in many other parts of the world, online
news practices in Bangladesh can be categorized in four ways – online
versions of the print newspapers, online newspapers without print versions but
with significant investment, independent online newspapers run by entrepre-
neurs, and citizen journalism by bloggers or people using social media
(e.g., Facebook).

Online Versions of Newspapers

The first online newspaper in Bangladesh was Thedailystar.net, the online pres-
ence of a leading English-language daily. The newspaper opened its online site
in 1997. Today, the leading newspapers like Prothom Alo, Ittefaq, Shamokal and
The Daily Star all offer independent online news publication. The inclusion of
independent online news sections has enabled the newspapers to serve up-to-date
news around the clock. Although every print newspaper has an online
version of the paper, not all newspapers have independently operated online
183
1. According to www.internetworlds.com as accessed on 16 May 2013, total number of
internet users in Bangladesh is 8,054,190, and that number is 5% of the total population.
 ONLINE JOURNALISM IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD

Picture 1. The screenshot of the first online newspaper

The Daily Star (www.thedailystar.net); accessed on 26 June, 2014.

news departments. However, these online versions are usually not very interactive.
Readers can comment under the news, and they are able to share items on
Facebook and Twitter, but the sites do not suggest any related stories to articles,
nor are any hyperlinks added within the news text. The sites also make very
limited use of video – multimedia is rarely seen on the sites, the slow internet
speed being the main hindrance. Continuous news tickers, opinion polls, and a
few archival articles are among the features that differentiate online news from
the print editions.
Prothom Alo started publishing a small scale version online on 4 Novem-
ber 1998. In the beginning, it only published news from the 1st and 2nd pages,
but later it expanded to cover the whole newspaper. From 16 September 2006,
the newspaper started uploading two editions – midday and evening, and in
2009, the site added interactivity by including readers’ comments. At this stage,
photos accompanying news articles were also introduced. In its first phase of on-
line journalism, Prothom Alo was a paid service. People outside the country had
to purchase access to the news through a PayPal system. Within a year, however,
the content became free. The online service of Prothom Alo has a few sub sec-
184 tions – the news desk, reporting, sports, features, and web coding – employing 40
persons. The correspondents of the print newspaper throughout the country also
contribute to the online service, and they receive additional payment for that.
 FAHMIDUL HAQ

Picture 2. The screenshot of the online version of the highest cirulated newspaper
Prothom Alo (www.prothom-alo.com); accessed on 26 June, 2014.

Now almost every newspaper in Bangladesh has an online version, but a

very few have a separate online news section. The online version of Prothom Alo
(www.prothom-alo.com) is one of the leading news sites in South Asia. Though
its print circulation is less (0.48 million) than Times of India (3.14 million, the
highest circulation of English language dailies in the world), Anandabazar
Patrika (an Indian daily in Bengali with a circulation of 1.28 million), and Jang
(A Pakistani daily in Urdu having a circulation of 0.8 million), Prothom Alo’s
world ranking (1,109) of the online news site, according to Alexa.com, is ahead
of the online versions of the other South Asian newspapers (Times of India
3,840, Anandabazar Patrika 9,437, and Jang 1,515). The news editor of the online
section of Prothom Alo claimed the news site is accessed from more than 200
countries in the world. In Bangladesh, it ranks sixth after Facebook, Google,
Google.com.bd, Yahoo, and YouTube. News-hungry Bengalis from home and
abroad have significantly increased the traffic of Prothom-alo.com.
However, the online version of Prothom Alo lacks hyperlinks and multi-
media. It does not provide related news links, or the links within the text.
Neither does it use audio or video regularly. Only occasionally do they use video
clips with permission from the TV channels. Prothom Alo’s online news editor, 185
Selim Khan, says, “it is very difficult as well as expensive to run a video unit.
We have camera and other technologies, but we found it not feasible to run the
 ONLINE JOURNALISM IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD

video unit. One journalist cannot cover both text and video at the same time.
You need different people to do that but it would be expensive.” (Khan 2013.)

Online Newspapers with Big Investment

The first online newspaper without any co-existing print version in Bangladesh
was Bdnews24.com. It began operating in August 2004. The newspaper was
started by some journalists, but later the corporation Advanced Data Network
became a majority shareholder in the newspaper. Another prominent online
newspaper without any print edition is Banglanews24.com, owned by the
Basundhara Group, a large conglomerate in Bangladesh. A few other news-
papers have been established with big investments such as natunbarta.com,
poriborton.com, dhakatimes.com, atnnews.com, and primekhobor.com.

Picture 3. The screenshot of first online-only newspaper

BDNews (www.bdnews24.com); accessed on 26 June, 2014.

If journalism is literature in a hurry, online journalism is even more hurried

than that. This is equally true for online journalism in Bangladesh. Online
newspapers publish stories 12–13 hours ahead of print newspapers. A print
186 newspaper can check the facts of an incident and can provide authentic and
credible reporting. Conversely, online newspapers get a very small span of time
to write and edit news, yet still have to maintain credibility and authenticity.
 FAHMIDUL HAQ

Picture 4. According to Alexa rating the top online newspaper is

Banglanews (www.banglanews24.com); accessed on 26 June, 2014.

There is a pressure from the online community for online newspapers to deliver
credible and valuable news. While citizen-led journalism might produce the
first reports of information in cyberspace about an incident, readers then look
for credible reporting from a professional news site. This demand for a rapid,
credible news flow creates competition among online newspapers to serve
news as fast as possible. If a site is slow to respond, the users will leave and will
not come back. This situation has resulted in a change in the presentation of
news both online and in print journalism in Bangladesh. Online journalism
follows the regular “5 Ws and 1 H” and gives brief information of the incident.
Then, the next morning, after 10 to 15 hours, the same incident is presented in
the print newspaper in a more descriptive and interpretative way.
The pressure of immediacy has brought a few changes in journalistic
practice, for example, the extensive use of cell phones in journalism. Reporters
today record news stories on location using their phones, and then upload them
to the office where they can be edited. Mahmud Menon Khan, the head of news
of banglanews24.com says without a phone, online journalism is not possible
(Menon 2013). Similarly, online newspapers – especially bdnews24.com and
banglanews24.com – are often bilingual. There is also a unique case in Bangladesh 187
where a newspaper is published both in English and vernacular languages.
In online journalism, journalists are expected to have skills in both reporting
 ONLINE JOURNALISM IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD

and editing. Photography is also popular with readers in the case of online jour-
nalism; the city office of banglanews24.com has as many as 14 photographers.
Multimedia presentations are also expected in online journalism – online news
sites in Bangladesh upload video clips occasionally, and even sometimes pro-
vide live streaming of important events.
Of the two leading online newspapers bdnews24.com and banglanews24.com,
the readership of banglanews24.com is higher, but the reporting offered by
bdnews24.com is more credible. According to alexa.com (a site that provides
information regarding web traffic) on 20 September 2013, banglanews24.com
overtook prothom-alo.com. Readers are not offered any options for commenting
on banglanews24.com, whereas on bdnews24.com the option is available but the
scope is limited. Other than still photographs, the use of multimedia is limited
on all Bangladeshi news sites. One reason might be the slow internet speeds
that limit video streaming, but at the same time none of the online news sites
have their own audio-visual units.

Independent Online Newspapers

A lot of online newspapers based in Bangladesh have an artisanal outlook.

These offer limited news, and, in most cases, are run by less than 10 personnel.
In many cases, they copy news from other professional sites, with some modi-
fying or re-writing the copied texts before uploading. These can be considered
as independent initiatives by individuals or small groups of people with a passion
for journalism. This type of online newspaper received wider attention after
the initiative by the Government of Bangladesh to introduce an Online Media
Policy in 2012. Although the proposed policy excluded blog sites, online users
started speaking against it, and especially against the proposed annual fee for
online newspapers. The significantly higher fee, it was argued, could be paid by
the professional and corporate newspapers, but not by the small enterprises.
The debate argued that smaller online newspapers would be forced to close be-
cause of the proposed higher annual fee. The discussion also revealed that there
are more than 200 small online newspapers in Bangladesh. Abdullah-Al-Shafi,
the editor of Newsnetbd.com says, “We formed an association during the debate
regarding Online Media Policy and got 215 members.” (Shafi 2013.)
188 Newsnetbd.com is a small online newspaper that started operating in
2007. The site covers six or seven business events daily. The specialized news
site employs four journalists at its office, and three contributing photographers.
 FAHMIDUL HAQ

Picture 5. An example of online newspaper as a small enterprise,

Newsnet (www.newsnetbd.com); accessed on 26 June, 2014.

Most of the smaller online newspapers function as news portals, trying to cover
every type of news on the site. Some of the newspapers begin operating with
a company registration, but without any permission from Department of Film
and Publications (DFP) of the Government of Bangladesh. Usually, the DFP
must give a declaration or official permission for the print media in Bangladesh.
Many of the online newspapers do not have any trade license; after buying a
domain and hiring a server, the site is uploaded and operational.
The owners of these small enterprises come from different backgrounds.
Shafi says, “Either they are small-town journalists recently migrated to the capital
city, or journalists who lost their job recently, or small businessmen who think
the site might help their business.” (Shafi 2013) But the small enterprises are yet
to be profitable. Advertisers are not interested in small newspapers. If any site
starts to become popular, it may cause problems for the newspaper: it has to
increase the volume of its reporting, and has to use a higher-capacity which
costs more. The server system might also change, meaning they have to switch
to another platform, which is again a question of expenditure. Due to these various
constraints, many small online newspapers have now ceased operations.
Whatever the prevailing situation for small newspapers, this is never- 189
theless an indication of the democratization of media, as well as a signifier of
the plurality of media in society. Small newspapers might have to plan their
 ONLINE JOURNALISM IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD

projects according to needs and demand. If a small enterprise acts as a big en-
terprise, it will not flourish. Small newspapers can, however, be subject specific
and focus on particular section of society. In the near future, more people will
use online news, and print circulation numbers will continue to decline. This
trend is clearly visible in Bangladesh since the advent of smartphone technology.
Some companies are introducing low-priced smartphones that offer internet
browsing. This has dramatically increased the number of internet users, which
in turn has increased the number of people seeking online news. This trend
indicates a bright future for online newspapers, even if it they are small,
independent enterprises.

Citizen Journalism

Citizen journalism refers to journalism practices with user-generated content.

“The proliferation of communication technologies and new media has trans-
formed contemporary journalism by harnessing the power of audiences and
citizens to participate in news reporting and dissemination, leading to the rise
of citizen journalism” (Douai 2014, 274). “Some relate the origin of citizen jour-
nalism with civic journalism or community journalism. With roots in the civic
journalism movement of the 1990s, as well as earlier Deweyan inspired forms
of community journalism, citizen journalism gained momentum from the
explosion of web-enabled forms of citizen expression” (Rojas & Kim 2008, 106).
With the development of Web 2.0 features, online users have turned into
“prosumers” – both consumers and producers of news. Previously passive audi-
ences now play the role of active citizen journalists. Citizen journalists may be
non-professional and often lack journalistic ethics, but amateur journalism has
two aspects that traditional journalism often cannot achieve – citizen journalists
can broadcast photographs or video just after an incident takes place, and in
so doing they democratize the production, consumption and dissemination of
news. Citizen journalism has reversed the traditional relationship between the
audience as consumers and reporters as producers of news.
Partly as a reaction to critiques of news coverage by traditional media,
partly a process of individual expressive motivation, and partly an exploration
of new business models for news, different forms of citizen journalism  are
190 emerging worldwide (Rojas & Kim 2008, 106). While in the mainstream media,
news or opinions are edited, polished, and sometimes censored by gatekeepers,
the opinions published in a blog or on Facebook are found in raw form without
 FAHMIDUL HAQ

Picture 6. An example of
online propaganda by the
supporters of Jamaat-E-Islami,
the party of alleged war criminals;
The picture of “Prophets of Love”
rallies has been used in Facebook
as the rally of people of Turkey
demanding the release of Jamaat
leaders (Source: The Daily Star,
17 March, 2013).

any moderation. In the context of Bangladesh, the presence of grassroots news

reporting by the people and for the people has enabled bloggers to performing
as citizen journalists. In late 2005, before the advent of Facebook, a blogging
community developed. The online community, comprising Facebook users and
bloggers, regularly serve news and analyse contemporary issues, thus perform-
ing citizen journalism, writing in Bangla (Bengali), the vernacular language
of Bangladesh. In the last few years, Facebook has become the most vibrant
platform for citizen journalism and activism. Very recently, Bangladesh experi-
enced several movements and counter movements that bloggers participated in.
The Shahbag movement has become famous globally, and is described
as a movement initiated by bloggers. It  began on 5 February 2013 and later
spread to other parts of Bangladesh, as people demanded  capital punish-
ment for Abdul Quader Mollah, who had been sentenced to life imprisonment
by the International Crimes Tribunal. Mollah was convicted for five charges out
of six, including murder, torture, and rape, but the protesters considered the
punishment of life imprisonment was given as a result of an entente between
Awami League – the party in power – and Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami,
the leaders of which committed war crimes during the Liberation War in 1971,
a few months before the general election. Later demands made by the protesters
included banning Jamaat-e-Islami from politics, and a boycott of institutions
supporting (or affiliated with) the party.
The protest was initiated by the Blogger and Online Activist Network,
and participants included bloggers and young cultural and political activists.
Soon, tens of thousands of people joined the demonstration, which gave rise 191
to protests across the country. However, a counter protest arose from the right
wing and Islamic block immediately. A pro-Shahbag blogger named Ahmed
 ONLINE JOURNALISM IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD

Picture 7. The cyber war of

pro-Shabag bloggers. The Facebook
page “Shahbage Cyber Juddha”
(Cyber War at Shahbag) claims they
have hacked the website of Islami
Chhatra Shibir, the student wing of
Jamaat-E-Islami, the party of alleged
war criminals. It was claimed on
22 February, 2013 from the page.

Haider Rajib was killed brutally on 15 February 2013, and a few online materials
written by the murdered blogger were published by the right-wing newspaper,
Amar Desh, suggesting that Rajib was an atheist and hater of Islam, and
that more atheist bloggers were leading the Shahbag movement. Because of
this propaganda, the movement started to lose mass support. The situation
worsened after a death sentence was given to another convicted leader of
Jamat-E-Islami, Delwar Hossain Saydee, who committed war crimes in 1971.
Saydee is, perhaps, the most popular Jamat leader, and had general support
from the mass of people through his speeches interpreting Islam, and spread
using audio cassettes. After the verdict, Jamat-E-Islami called strikes, became
violent by destroying public and private properties, attacked temples and the
homes of Hindu minorities, and also attacked police on duty. The police killed
nearly a hundred protesters, and the country experienced alarming political
upheaval. In March 2013, another Islamic force, Hefajate Islam – a group with
Madrassa background – emerged demanding death sentences for atheist bloggers.
Their 13 points also included demolishing sculptures in the universities,
cancelling women’s development policies, and the segregation of women and
men in public spaces. The major opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist
Party (BNP), was initially hesitant to support the Shahbag Movement, but later
started supporting their political ally Jamat-E-Islami, as well as Hefajate Islam.
The continuing protests, strikes, and vandalism by both the Islami groups, sup-
192 ported by BNP, created a tumultuous environment of murder, terror, violence,
and intolerance in Bangladesh. The conflict grew to resemble the fight between
Islamists and secularists, which was reminiscent of the fighting between two
 FAHMIDUL HAQ

ideologies in and before the Liberation War in 1971. The future of Bangladesh
might well be determined by the results of the on-going conflict between the
followers of these two ideologies.
The Shahbag movement re-established the ideology of the Liberation
War, the components of which included democracy, nationalism, communism,
and secularism. However, the movement primarily concentrated on demanding
capital punishment for war criminals. This demand is a much-discussed topic,
and one of the oldest discourses in the Bengali blogosphere. Since the inception
of Bangla blog in late 2005, the pro-liberation bloggers spent much of their
energy fighting against the anti-liberation forces. It is to be noted that pro-lib-
eration bloggers are more vocal and dominate the Bangla blogosphere, so it is
no surprise that Shahbag movement was initiated by the bloggers. This virtual
community worked together and dared to openly reject the sentence given by
the court against Abdul Qader Mollah.
A lot of posts, news updates, and analyses were uploaded with the aim
of curbing the anti-liberation force. Their fight sometimes crossed limits of de-
cency, and their approach often seemed fascist. But the nationalist jingoism
made the community blog sites feel alive and frenzied. During the Shahbag
movement in February–March, 2013, the young bloggers created a Facebook
group titled “Cyber War at Shahbag”, the members of which continued to live
blog and stream video from the areas of unrest. Numerous activists, bloggers
and Facebook users served news, commentary, and analysis of the movement
minute-by-minute. However, anti-liberation bloggers and Facebook users also
started to publish propaganda. For example, a Facebook page titled “Basher
Kella” posted several Photoshopped pictures, including young boys and girls
dancing at Shahbag at midnight wearing obscene dresses, a picture of Delwar
Hossain Sayeed on the moon after his death sentence, the Imams of the mosque
of Mecca taking part in a procession against the atheist bloggers of Shahbag,
and so on. The propaganda also tried to stigmatize the boys of Shahbag as drug
addicts, and the girls as whores.
Citizen journalism continued in blogs and on Facebook after the Shahbag
incidents – covering strikes and violence by Jamaat and the BNP, police killings,
an attack on the Hindu minority by a BNP-Jamaat ally, the rise of Hefajate Islami,
their huge demonstration on 6 April, 2013, their enormous Dhaka blockade
programme on 5 May 2013, and their 13 points which were considered as 193
anti-progressive and misogynist. Fresh posts and statuses were written, pic-
tures and videos were uploaded, and links were shared around the clock
 ONLINE JOURNALISM IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD

on Facebook and blogs. The interaction among citizen journalists is very

important here, and contributed to the formation of discourses, the moulding
of opinions, the creation of political programmes, and inciting resistance in
the real world.
A strong base of citizen journalism had been established in pre-Shahbag
period. In fact, the experiences and continuing practices of citizen journalism
online resulted in the Shahbag movement itself. Renowned blogger and advisor
to bdnews24.com, Kowshik Ahmed, describes citizen journalism in Bangladesh
from a South Asian perspective:

Since 2006, we experienced citizen journalism through blog sites. But in

the last two years Facebook produced a lot of news, and citizen journalism
has started influencing mainstream media. Mainstream media now
follows Facebook so that no news is missed. News here in Bangladesh
spreads so rapidly online, it can be described as viral. In comparison
to other countries in South Asia, in Bangladesh, blogging occurs on a
community basis. In India, information spreads through SMS or through
closed networks. In Nepal, this practice is low. In Bangladesh, citizen
journalism is as vibrant as it is in Pakistan. (Ahmed, 2013.)

The Bangla blog community are aware of global events despite their apparent
insularity, but it is national events that really attract their attention. During
2008–2009, one of the most discussed issues in blog communities was the
Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) mutiny. On 25 February 2009, a group of soldiers in
the BDR, the paramilitary border force, killed around 60 military officers.
Civilians and other soldiers were also killed in the mutiny. The apparent reason
for this tragic massacre was the soldiers’ discontent about their conditions and
the role of their officers. The soldiers of the BDR were not accorded conditions
similar to other soldiers, and there was a perception among the ranks that the
officers, who were career soldiers seconded to the BDR, had done little to alle-
viate the miserable life of the soldiers in terms of salary and other facilities.
A war situation prevailed in the country for two days during the mutiny.
The real picture of the BDR tragedy became clear later through the mainstream
media, but as the events unfolded, the blogging communities were flooded with
194 posts and comments. Some of the information was hearsay, but other reports
included eyewitness descriptions of events, and others sought to analyse the
reasons behind the event.
 FAHMIDUL HAQ

Blogging communities were also very active and vibrant during the general
election in December 2008. After two years of a non-democratic regime, the
importance of the election was well understood by blog administrators, as well
the bloggers themselves. The Somewherein… blog introduced microblogging
during the election. It was expected that bloggers would blog from the voting
centre via SMS, briefly describing how the election was unfolding. During the
election, Amarblog introduced web TV for expatriate bloggers. They broadcast
live election results with the collaboration of ATN Bangla, one of the leading
news channels. In addition, the blogging communities provided live election
results through data and graphs on the front page of their blogs.

Conclusion

The increasing number of online users has tempted journalism into cyberspace.
The unique characteristics of the internet, such as interactivity, hyperlinks, and
the ability to instantly transcend geographical boundaries have, in some cases,
created a new kind of journalism which is different to the traditional forms
seen in print and broadcast media. Journalism has become participatory, as
cyberspace makes journalistic practice available to everyone. The independent
and participatory journalism carried out by IMC and OhMyNews, and the radical
journalism of sites such as WikiLeaks, are examples of a new kind of jour-
nalism. Some recent democratic and political movements have evolved using
the platform of social media – where activists practice citizen journalism – and
this has become the integral platform of the resistance movements. Examples
range from the Occupy movement in the West, to the Arab Spring and Shahbag
Movement in the developing world.
In Bangladesh, online journalism is emerging from its early stages with
limitations, but at the same time showing strong potential. This study finds
four types of online journalism practice in Bangladesh. Almost every daily
newspaper has an online version, and a few have established separate online
departments in the publishing houses. Today, even some of the television chan-
nels have an online news presence with up-to-date news. Moreover, a good
number of online-only newspapers without any associated print circulation
are currently operating in Bangladesh. However, these independent services
lack the professionalism of traditional journalism. The newspapers, backed by 195
big investments, still do well in terms of the quality of journalism and their
perceived legitimacy among online users. Unlike in other areas of the world,
 ONLINE JOURNALISM IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD

the smaller online news publishers have not yet shown any specialisation.
By contrast, participatory journalism practice is vibrant, especially on Facebook
and social media, and in community blogs.

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