THE media’s 50-year journey in Bangladesh is similar to our tumultuous politics. Its characteristics, purpose and behaviour over the five decades have transformed according to changes in the custodians in power. Accordingly, its development can be broadly defined in different segments of time that includes two brief periods of media freedom. However, the second episode was the brightest that took place following the restoration of democracy in the 1990s. The first period of freedom was very brief, lasting for less than two years after independence. But as the civic liberty and democracy started gradually shrinking and reduced to a one-party rule, our press had suffered the worst. But again, in between two different military regimes — there were contrasting scenarios. The military regime that ruled between 1975 and 1982 reversed the blanket nationalisation of newspapers that was brought in by BAKSAL, the lone political party created through dissolution of the Awami League and few other ...