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Every year on November 2, the world marks the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists. Despite the attention this has brought to the threats facing journalists worldwide, the latter, unfortunately, continue to be killed or targeted while doing their jobs, and in most cases, the perpetrators have faced no meaningful consequences. Impunity not only ends lives; it also corrodes public faith in accountability measures, fuels self-censorship, and emboldens those who thrive in the shadows.

Bangladesh is hardly unfamiliar with this reality. Here, journalism has never been a safe profession per se. Numerous journalists—whether local correspondents or prominent members of the national media—have experienced harassment, intimidation, vexatious lawsuits, disappearances, and even murder. The unresolved 2012 killing of journalist couple Sagar Sarowar and Meherun Runi stands as a stark symbol of justice deferred into oblivion. Our rage over such cases has faded, but the attacks have not.

Several journalists have been killed in the last two years alone. Khandaker Shah Alam of Daily Matrijagat was killed in June 2025 during a targeted attack in Nabinagar, Brahmanbaria. In August, after reportedly filming armed men chasing a man in Gazipur, 38-year-old reporter Md Asaduzzaman Tuhin was hacked to death with machetes. Hasan Mehedi of the Dhaka Times was killed in Jatrabari while covering the student-led uprising in 2024. Around the same time in Sylhet, two more journalists—Abu Taher Md Turab and Shakil Hossain—were shot dead. Beyond these atrocious fatalities, many journalists have faced arrests or injuries for disclosing corruption, criminal networks, or abuses of power. Many have also endured online vilification, freezing of bank accounts, legal harassment, threats against their families, etc.

After the 2024 uprising, there was a moment when many hoped this cycle of dread would face serious reckoning. For a while, a more open media environment did emerge, raising expectations that long-stalled investigations into crimes against journalists would finally move forward. Yet, 14 months later, we are confronted with a sobering truth: that political change alone cannot dismantle entrenched impunity. When law enforcement can be bent by vested interests, when institutions lack insulation from socio-political and commercial pressures, those who target journalists will continue to believe they can get away with it.

Of late, threats have increasingly shifted online, particularly against women journalists, who face organised campaigns designed to break their morale and destroy their reputations. Even after the repeal of the infamous Digital Security Act, the tendency to punish or persecute journalism persists.

Bangladesh is currently heading towards a national election that offers another opportunity to re-set this course, where journalist protection must be recognised as a fundamental democratic right. Establishing formal protection mechanisms and safety training for high-risk reporting, ensuring quick and independent investigations into all attacks on media workers, reforming laws to stop the weaponisation of legal provisions against the media, and creating a permanent independent oversight body to track violations and recommend accountability—these are the kinds of concrete commitments that political parties must make in their election manifestos. These are not partisan demands. They are basic prerequisites for a functioning democracy.

In the past, despite repeated promises, no government or political party has delivered the structural protections that journalists need. Neither the current interim administration nor parties vying for power now have shown much political resolve either. It can be recalled that the Media Reform Commission, formed after the July uprising, proposed establishing an independent National Media Commission to investigate attacks on journalists, ensure accountability, supervise the revision of outdated media regulations, etc. However, the government's unwillingness to move on such recommendations has again left the profession exposed to risks of intimidation, threats, and arbitrary reprisal. Without proper reforms, "press freedom" will remain just a slogan, not a guarantee, which is what journalists require.

Media leaders must also take stock of the prevailing situation. Risk-taking journalists should not be abandoned when things do not work out. News organisations must invest in legal support, safety protocols, and editorial independence to avoid internal censorship dictated by business or political interests. A compromised media ecosystem, even with enough resources or paper freedom, cannot legitimately keep those in power in check, nor can it protect its journalists or serve public interests with integrity.

The public, too, must recognise that attacks on journalists are attacks on their right to know. Every major revelation on any irregularity in public procurement, land grabs, police abuse, financial fraud, or hospital malpractice begins with a reporter prepared to take risks most citizens will never have to face. When that reporter is harmed or threatened—and the perpetrator goes unpunished—society loses and unchecked power wins.

Bangladesh is currently at a critical juncture. Our political future is still up in the air. The authorities are trying to project a vision of democratic renewal and stability. But real stability—the kind that protects the economy and our international credibility—depends on truth, not fear. If a democracy cannot safeguard those exposing underlying threats to people's rights, then it cannot protect those rights at all.

Today, despite the pain and fear of colleagues in some media organisations, journalists continue to work with extraordinary courage. They deserve an ecosystem that values that service. They deserve justice for all the wrongs done to them over the years. Ending impunity is not a concession to the media. It is a much-needed barrier against future crimes, against the silencing of dissent, and against fear swallowing the truth. Where justice falls, truth also falls. And where truth falls, democracy cannot stand. Bangladesh must strive to avoid that future, especially at the threshold of an election that will shape this nation's path.

If we want a Bangladesh that can hold its head high among democracies, we must firmly defend those who defend our right to know. It is a collective duty. And the time to act is now.

Zillur Rahman is the host of current affairs talk show 'Tritiyo Matra', who also serves as president of Centre for Governance Studies (CGS). His X handle is @zillur.

Views expressed in this article are the author's own.