Avijit killing and the limits of speech: Revisiting the media perspective of Bangladesh

Abstract

The writer-blogger Avijit Roy’s murder at the end of February 2015 and the aftermath debates that pounded over a series of criticism on ethical and anti-ethical positions of free expression were the focus of this study. The study examined how the print media of Bangladesh treated this murder and looked into the ways of shaping mediated public discourse regarding this killing. It also focused on the public debates dividing into for or against the free expression of opinions and the spreading of hate speech. Items published as news and views from a total of 57 issues of four national daily newspapers both in Bangla and English were examined to get a qualitative impression of the debate and to get an idea of how the public figures who acted as opinion sources were quoted. Also, some Facebook posts were analyzed to get an overall impression of social media on the cause and consequence of this murder. The study found that sometimes public figures do use hate speech and promote conflicting debates in media as a weapon of political benefits. Conflicting issues like religious radicalism, dominant cultural norms, and various offensive issues need to be revisited to get standard performance by the media of Bangladesh.