In an effort to protect editorial freedom and promote responsible journalism, media leaders have formed the Editors Guild, Bangladesh.

Composed of editors and leaders from news media publications and outlets across the board, the new organisation’s first meeting was held on Dec 21 (Friday) hosted by Bangla Tribune’s Editor Zulfiqer Russell at the online newspaper’s offices in Dhaka.
Its first committee was formed in the meeting with bdnews24.com’s Editor-in-Chief Toufique Imrose Khalidi as the convener while Janakantha Executive Editor Swadesh Roy and Gazi Television and sarabangla.net Editor-in-Chief Syed Ishtiaque Reza as joint conveners.
Ekattor Television Editor-in-Chief Mozammel Haque Babu, DBC Television Editor-in-Chief Manzurul Islam, ATN Bangla Chief Executive Editor ZI Mamun, ATN News Chief Executive Editor Munni Saha, Asian Age Editorial Board Chairman Shoeb Chowdhury and Bangla Tribune Editor Zulfiqer Russell are also on the committee.
The Guild is an association of editorial leaders from across the Bangladeshi news publishing industry, bdnews24.com’s Khalidi said after the organisation’s inaugural meeting.
“One of our key tasks would be to formulate a code of ethics for news professionals, which does not exist here at the moment. This would be a guideline or a set of principles, following the global best practices,” he said.
Another important issue on its agenda is to protect the dignity of the editorial institution as well as promote responsible journalism, Khalidi said.
Communication technology is evolving, so is the mass media around the world, Janakantha Executive Editor Swadesh Roy said. “The media must now be more responsible than ever before. We have launched this effort to ensure that we do our job properly.”
The Bangladeshi media has grown significantly since the country’s inception, but new organisations remain weak as institutions, according to Gazi Television and sarabangla.net Editor-in-Chief Syed Ishtiaque Reza
“We have come together out of a desire to change the situation,” he said.