''The Daily Star'' is a Bangladeshi English-language daily newspaper. It is by far the largest circulating English-language newspaper in the country. Founded by Syed Mohammed Ali on 14 January 1991, as Bangladesh transitioned and restored

parliamentary democracy A parliamentary system, or parliamentary democracy, is a form of government where the head of government (chief executive) derives their democratic legitimacy from their ability to command the support ("confidence") of a majority of the legisl ...

, the newspaper became popular for its outspoken coverage of

politics Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

, corruption, and

foreign policy Foreign policy, also known as external policy, is the set of strategies and actions a State (polity), state employs in its interactions with other states, unions, and international entities. It encompasses a wide range of objectives, includ ...

. It is considered a

newspaper of record A newspaper of record is a major national newspaper with large newspaper circulation, circulation whose editorial and news-gathering functions are considered authoritative and independent; they are thus "newspapers of record by reputation" and i ...

for Bangladesh. The newspaper has been described as having a "reputation for journalistic integrity and liberal and progressive views - a kind of Bangladeshi ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''".

Mahfuz Anam Mahfuz Anam (; born 18 June 1950) is a leading Bangladeshi journalist and public intellectual. He is the editor and publisher of '' The Daily Star'', which is the largest English newspaper in the country. He was elected chairman of the Asia Ne ...

serves as the editor and publisher of ''The Daily Star.'' ''The Daily Star'' is owned by Mediaworld, in which a major share is held by the

Transcom Group Transcom Limited is a Bangladeshi business conglomerate. The businesses under this group include beverage, pharmaceuticals, newspaper, radio channel, electronics, foods, etc. Transcom is the local agent or comprador of international brands. Thi ...

. ''Star Business,'' the business edition of the paper, is highly popular. The newspaper serves its Bengali readership digitally through its website.

History

In the late 1980s, plans for a major English newspaper in Bangladesh were drawn up by Syed Mohammad Ali and Mahfuz Anam in

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...

. Ali previously served as Editor of ''

The Bangkok Post The ''Bangkok Post'' is an English-language daily newspaper published in Bangkok, Thailand. It is published in broadsheet and digital formats. The first issue was sold on 1 August 1946. It had four pages and cost one baht, a considerable amount ...

'' in

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

and the ''

Hong Kong Standard ''The Standard'' is an English-language free newspaper in Hong Kong with a daily circulation of 200,450 in 2012. It was formerly called the ''Hongkong Standard'' and changed to ''HKiMail'' during the Internet boom but partially reverted to ''T ...

'' in

British Hong Kong Hong Kong was under British Empire, British rule from 1841 to 1997, except for a Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, brief period of Japanese occupation during World War II from 1941 to 1945. It was a crown colony of the United Kingdom from 1841 ...

. Anam was working in

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

when he teamed up with Ali to establish a newspaper in Bangladesh. They secured funding from leading Bangladeshi financiers, including Azimur Rahman, A. S. Mahmud,

Latifur Rahman Latifur Rahman (1 March 1936 – 6 June 2017) was the 10th chief justice and the 2nd chief adviser of Bangladesh. Early life and education Latifur Rahman was born in Jessore on 1 March 1936. His father was the lawyer Khan Bahadur Lutfur Rahma ...

, A. Rouf Chowdhury and Shamsur Rahman. The newspaper was set up in 1991, which coincided with Bangladesh's return to parliamentary democracy after 15 years of military rule and presidential government. ''The Daily Star'' gained popularity for its outspoken coverage of politics in Bangladesh, including the rivalry between the

Awami League The Awami League, officially known as Bangladesh Awami League, is a major List of political parties in Bangladesh, political party in Bangladesh. The oldest existing political party in the country, the party played the leading role in achievin ...

led by

Sheikh Hasina Sheikh Hasina (''née'' Wazed; born 28 September 1947) is a Bangladeshi politician who served as the tenth prime minister of Bangladesh from June 1996 to July 2001 and again from January 2009 to August 2024. Premiership of Sheikh Hasina, Her ...

and the

Bangladesh Nationalist Party The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (), popularly abbreviated as BNP (), is a major List of political parties in Bangladesh, political party in Bangladesh. It was founded on 1 September 1978 by President of Bangladesh, President Ziaur Rahman, wit ...

(BNP) led by

Khaleda Zia Begum Khaleda Zia (born August–September 1945) is a Bangladeshi politician who served as the prime minister of Bangladesh from 1991 to 1996 and again from 2001 to 2006. She was the first female prime minister of Bangladesh and the second fema ...

. It became the country's largest circulating English-language newspaper and quickly overtook ''

The Bangladesh Observer ''The Bangladesh Observer'', founded by Hamidul Huq Choudhury in 1949, was the oldest continuously published English-language daily newspaper in Bangladesh until it ceased publication in June 2010. History Since its inception as ''The Pakist ...

'' and ''

Weekly Holiday ''Holiday'' is an independent English-language newsweekly published on Fridays in Bangladesh. Founded by the late eminent journalist Enayetullah Khan in 1965, it was one of the most influential newspapers in East Pakistan and was known for its ou ...

''. It gained a wide readership in

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; , ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the capital city, capital and list of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the list of largest cities, largest and list o ...

and

Chittagong Chittagong ( ), officially Chattogram, (, ) (, or ) is the second-largest city in Bangladesh. Home to the Port of Chittagong, it is the busiest port in Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal. The city is also the business capital of Bangladesh. It ...

, particularly among the urban elites, the business community and the diplomatic community. In 2007, ''The Daily Star'' editor Mahfuz Anam called out army chief General

Moeen U Ahmed Moeen Uddin Ahmed (born 21 January 1953) is a former Bangladeshi four star general and the 12th Chief of Army Staff of the Bangladesh Army, Chief of Army Staff of the Bangladesh Army from 15 June 2005 to 15 June 2009. He has worked in High Commi ...

for suggesting political reforms, arguing that it was beyond the mandate of the army chief to speak about politics. In a widely read commentary titled "This is no way to strengthen democracy", Anam also blasted the military-backed caretaker government for the arrest of Sheikh Hasina in 2007. In 2009, an investigative report by ''The Daily Star'' implicated former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's son

Tarique Rahman Tarique Rahman (born 20 November 1965), better known natively as Tarique Zia, is a Bangladeshi politician and businessman who has been the acting chairman of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) since February 2018. He is the eldest son of fo ...

and close aides from

Hawa Bhaban Hawa Bhaban, also rendered as Hawa Bhavan, or Hawa Bhawan, was the political office of the chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, and monitored party affairs on the chair's behalf. It was viewed as an "alternate power house" in Banglades ...

in the

2004 Dhaka grenade attack The 2004 Dhaka grenade attack took place at an anti-terrorism rally organised by Awami League in Bangabandhu Avenue (now Shaheed Abrar Fahad Avenue) on 21 August 2004. The attack left 24 dead and more than 500 injured. The attack was carried ou ...

. Tarique Rahman was later sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the attack. In 2015, the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina suspended all tender notices and government adverts in ''The Daily Star'' as a pressure tactic because government advertisements generate a significant share of revenue for the newspaper; this suspension was later lifted. In 2021, a commentary by Mahfuz Anam criticized army chief General Aziz Ahmed for controversial remarks in which Aziz suggested that criticizing the army chief was tantamount to criticizing Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. On 22 April 2022, Anam wrote a commentary titled "Can we really have a free and fair election?" in which he lamented Bangladesh's democratic backsliding. Throughout 2022 and 2023, Anam wrote a series of articles on the importance of free and fair elections, press freedom, the

Digital Security Act The Digital Security Act, 2018, was a digital security law in Bangladesh. This act was passed with the aim of preventing the spread of racism, sectarianism, extremism, terrorist propaganda, and hatred against religious or ethnic minorities throug ...

(which was repealed), the role of the bureaucracy, political history, political parties and the

Bangladesh Election Commission The Bangladesh Election Commission (), abbreviated and publicly referred to as EC, is a government controlled constitutional body that operates the Law, legal functions of election laws in Bangladesh. Article 118 of the Constitution of Bangla ...

Staff

Only two years after launching the newspaper, SM Ali died and a young Anam, who was Ali's protege, became the editor of the fledgling daily. As editor and publisher, Anam has been widely credited for steering the paper's editorial independence. Financial affairs are overseen by a six-member board of directors of the

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...

Mediaworld Limited.

Syed Fahim Munaim Syed Fahim Munaim (4 July 1953 – 1 June 2016) was a Bangladeshi journalist. He was the former press secretary to Chief Advisor Fakruddin Ahmed, ambassador of Bangladesh to Indonesia, and CEO of Maasranga Television. Early life Munaim was born ...

was the CEO and Managing Editor of the newspaper for many years. Munaim was credited for ensuring the financial independence of paper. Ahead of the 2024 general election, the paper hired several pro-BNP journalists and writers, took an aggressively pro-BNP editorial stance, and strongly criticized the ruling Awami League. The election ended up being boycotted by the BNP amid allegations of a lack of a conducive environment for holding elections. In 2023, Anam was appointed chairman of the holding company of The Daily Star after the death of longstanding chairperson

Rokeya Afzal Rahman Rokia Afzal Rahman ( – 5 April 2023) was a Bangladeshi banker and entrepreneur. She was the first woman bank manager in Bangladesh. She served as one of advisers of the caretaker government of Bangladesh in 2001. Career Rahman worked in the b ...

. Syed Ashfaqul Haque, who worked in both management and the newsroom for 31 years, was appointed as Executive Editor.

Aasha Mehreen Amin Aasha Mehreen Amin is a Bangladeshi journalist and writer. She is currently joint editor at ''The Daily Star''. Biography Aasha Mehreen Amin was born in Dhaka to a Bengali Muslim family. Her father, Anwarul Amin Makhon, was the second-eldest son ...

, the granddaughter of Pakistan's last Bengali premier

Nurul Amin Nurul Amin (15 July 1893 – 2 October 1974) was a Pakistani politician and jurist who served as the eighth prime minister of Pakistan from 7 December to 20 December 1971. His premiership term of only 13 days was the shortest served in Pakista ...

, serves as the Joint Editor while S.S. Preetha is head of the

Op-Ed An op-ed, short for "opposite the editorial page," is a type of written prose commonly found in newspapers, magazines, and online publications. They usually represent a writer's strong and focused opinion on an issue of relevance to a targeted a ...

section, which was previously headed by

Zafar Sobhan Zafar Sobhan is a prominent Bangladeshi public intellectual, lawyer, journalist, and political analyst. He was the Editor of the ''Dhaka Tribune''from 2012 until 2025, one of the major English language newspapers of Bangladesh. Sobhan became the ...

. Amin continues to wield significant influence over commentaries and Op-Eds. Amin previously ran the paper's defunct ''Star'' magazine supplement. Mizanur Rahman, the Head of Operations, and Tajdin Hasan, the Chief Business Officer, are the two other key leaders of the newspaper.

Controversies

In recent years, the paper has complained of growing restrictions on

press freedom Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic media, especially published materials, should be considered a right to be exerc ...

in Bangladesh. It also faced pressure from the government which affected its ad revenues.

Lawsuits from Awami League and BNP members

PEN America PEN America (formerly PEN American Center), founded in 1922, and headquartered in New York City, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose goal is to raise awareness for the protection of free expression in the United States and worldwide th ...

strongly criticized the lawsuits filed against Mahfuz Anam, including as many as 83 lawsuits and 30 counts of criminal defamation lodged by members and supporters of the

. During the

government in the 2000s, Anam faced defamation lawsuits from ruling BNP leaders. He was co-accused with Matiur Rahman, editor of the Bengali newspaper ''

Prothom Alo ''Prothom Alo'' () is a Bengali language, Bengali-language daily newspaper in Bangladesh, published from Dhaka. It is one of the largest circulated newspaper in Bangladesh. According to the National Media Survey of 2018, conducted by Kantar MRB ...

'', in defamation cases filed by

Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury (13 March 1949 – 22 November 2015) was a Bangladeshi politician, minister and six-term member of Jatiya Sangsad and member of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Standing Committee, who served as the adviser of ...

. Anam was represented in court by

Kamal Hossain Kamal Hossain (born 20 April 1937), better known as Dr. Kamal, is a founding leader, lawyer and politician of Bangladesh. He is known as the "Father of the Bangladeshi Constitution" and regarded as an icon of secular democracy in the Indian subc ...

DGFI leaks

In 2016, speaking at a panel discussion on

ATN News ATN News () is a Bangladeshi Bengali-language satellite and cable news-oriented television channel owned by the Multimedia Production Company Limited, owned by Mahfuzur Rahman. It is a sister channel of ATN Bangla. It was launched on 7 June 201 ...

admitted that ''The Daily Star'' ran stories fed to the newspaper by military intelligence outfit DGFI during the military-backed state of emergency and caretaker government in 2007 and 2008. The stories accused Awami League and BNP leaders of corruption. A string of lawsuits were filed against Anam following his admission.

Website blocked

The newspaper's website was briefly blocked on 1 June 2018 after it reported the

extrajudicial Extrajudicial punishment is a punishment for an alleged crime or offense which is carried out without legal process or supervision by a court or tribunal through a legal proceeding. Politically motivated Extrajudicial punishment is often a fe ...

killing of Ekramul Haque Killing of Ekramul Haque refers to the extrajudicial killing of Ekramul Haque, councillor of Teknaf Municipality Ward three, by a unit of the Rapid Action Battalion. He was elected as councilor in Teknaf Municipality three times in a row as a ca ...

by members of the

Rapid Action Battalion Rapid Action Battalion (; abbreviated as RAB) is an anti-crime and anti-terrorism unit of the Bangladesh Police. This elite force consists of members of the Bangladesh Army, Bangladesh Navy, Bangladesh Air Force, Bangladesh Police, Border Guard ...

. The killing took place while the victim was speaking with his family on the phone. The

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) () is an independent commission founded under the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulation Act, 2001 (Act no. 18 of 2001). The commission is responsible for regulating all matters related ...

(BTRC) did not give any explanation for the block.

Child abuse by staff

In February 2024, Executive Editor Syed Ashfaqul Haque and his wife Tania Khondoker were sent to jail after they surrendered to a court in Dhaka, following the death of a fifteen year old female maid at their house in

Mohammadpur Thana Mohammadpur () is a thana of Dhaka, Bangladesh. Although initially Mohammadpur had grown as a residential area, subsequent commercial places have also been developed as well. History Unlike some parts of Dhaka city, most parts of Mohammadpur wer ...

. Haque and his wife faced charges of

child abuse Child abuse (also called child endangerment or child maltreatment) is physical abuse, physical, child sexual abuse, sexual, emotional and/or psychological abuse, psychological maltreatment or Child neglect, neglect of a child, especially by a p ...

. The deceased maid was a teenage girl named Preeti Urang who worked as a servant in the house of the executive editor. Urang hailed from a tea garden worker's family in

Moulvibazar District Moulvibazar District, () also spelled Moulavibazar, or Maulavibazar, (previous name: South Sylhet) is the southeastern district of Sylhet Division in northeastern Bangladesh, named after the town of Moulvibazar. It is bordered by the Indian states ...

. Protests were held demanding justice for the girl's death. The newspaper issued a formal apology over the incident.

''Star Weekend'' magazine

Starting in May 1996, ''The Daily Star'' published a weekly magazine supplement titled ''The Star'' every Friday.

was the first editor of the magazine and continued in that capacity for 18 years. ''The Star'' became ''Star Weekend''.

Elita Karim Dilshad Karim Elita, better known as Elita Karim, is a Bangladeshi singer, journalist, versatile performer, anchor and voice artist. She is the vocalist of Raaga. Early life Karim was born on 4 September 1982. She graduated in English literat ...

was the magazine's editor from 2015 to 2017. ''Star Weekend'' ceased publication on 29 November 2019, as ''The Daily Star'' downsized to adapt to a changing media landscape.

Criticism

In December 2024, Simin Rahman of

was accused by his younger sister of embezzling her deceased father's shares through non-judicial stamp fraud. On 18 May 2025, Elias Hossain's YouTube investigative report program called Fifteen Minutes was shown, stating that Simin Rahman was unethically assisted by Prothom Alo editor Matiur Rahman and Daily Star's

in this matter along with publishing false news, and

Asif Nazrul Mohammad Nazrul Islam, better known as Asif Nazrul (; born 12 January 1966), is a Bangladeshi writer, novelist, columnist, political commentator and a professor of law at the University of Dhaka. He was appointed an adviser to the interim govern ...

dismissed the case without investigation due to his good relations with them.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Daily Star Newspapers established in 1991 English-language newspapers published in Bangladesh 1991 establishments in Bangladesh Newspapers published in Dhaka Daily newspapers published in Bangladesh