Bangladesh: Politics, religion and the limits of speech

Bangladesh is a secular state, but the murder of two bloggers who questioned Islamist values represents a danger to freedom of expression.

In February, Avijit Roy, a Bangladeshi-American blogger and the founder of a secularist website was killed by machete-wielding assailants in a Dhaka street. A few days later another blogger, Washiquir Rahman met a similar end.

The killers of both men were motivated by a desire to silence what they considered to be anti-Islamist views. The murders are testament to the highly charged atmosphere in which the debate about the place of religion in Bangladeshi society takes place.

This story has its roots in the war out of which the state of Bangladesh was born and the ongoing legal process that has seen Islamist leaders convicted and sentenced to death for terrible atrocities.

Taking us through the issues raised by the secularism and religion in Bangladesh’s past and present are: Imran H Sarkar from the Bangladesh bloggers’ association; Mustafa Feroz, the head of News from Bangla Vision; editor-in-chief of the Dhaka Tribune, Zafar Sobhan; and journalist Shaukat Mahmood.

Other stories on our radar this week: A French broadcaster is being sued for putting hostages at risk during the January attack on a Jewish supermarket in Paris; Former New York Times journalist Judith Miller is once again defending her record on false reporting in the run up to the Iraq War; and in Malaysia a cartoonist could face up to 43 years in prison for criticising a politician.

The ethics of native advertising 

Our feature this week takes a look at the evolving relationship between news outlets and the advertising that pays for them.

With revenue from traditional online advertising continuing its downward slide, big players in the news media are selling their creative services to corporations to create “native advertising”. Compelling content with a brand message published under the same mastheads as the news – but what are the conflicts?

The Listening Post’s Will Yong reports on the uneasy relationship between advertising and the news media.

Lastly, how many times have you written an email, read it back to yourself and realised how off it sounds? And try as we might to keep our work email for official business only, a little personal stuff does get mixed in there. For our end note this week, US-based comedy duo Tripp and Tyler forward your email messages into real life in a video sponsored by a new email service provider. They will surely be hoping that you are not put off your inbox altogether.