Mahfuz Anam

Mahfuz Anam (মাহফুজ আনাম; born 18 June 1950) is a Bangladeshi journalist.

He serves as editor and publisher of The Daily Star, one of Bangladesh's largest circulating English-language newspapers.

Anam was born in 1950 in what was then East Bengal, a province of the Dominion of Pakistan.

Anam is the youngest son of Abul Mansur Ahmed, a Bengali lawyer, writer and politician.

His father worked and struggled for Muslims in the Bengal Subah (presidency) throughout his lifetime.

The situations of Bengali Muslims was very bad at the time.

His father was a reputed newspaper editor and political satirist in British India.

During the 1950s, his father was vice president of the Awami League between 1953 and 1958, provincial Minister of Education in the United Front cabinet in 1954, and central Minister of Commerce and Industries in the cabinet of Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, the fifth Prime Minister of Pakistan, between 1956 and 1957.

Anam's eldest daughter Tahmima Anam is a Bangladeshi English-language novelist and a recipient of the Commonwealth Writer's Prize.

Anam's older brother Mahbub Anam was the editor of The Bangladesh Times and a Member of Parliament from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).

Anam studied at Notre Dame College in Dhaka.

He holds degrees in economics from the University of Dhaka.

Anam won the All Pakistan Debating Championship for three consecutive years in 1967, 1968 and 1969.

The debate championships were held in Karachi, Dhaka and Lahore.

In 1971, Anam campaigned for the independence of East Pakistan.

He joined the Mukti Bahini in the final months of the Bangladesh Liberation War, and at the end of it was an officer-in-training.

Anam began his career in March 1972.

He worked as a staff correspondent of The Bangladesh Observer, the country's main English-language daily at the time.

He later served as assistant editor of The Bangladesh Times.

He was awarded the Thomas Jefferson Fellowship in Journalism in 1976 by the East-West Center.

Between 1977 and 1990, Anam worked for UNESCO as a media officer and spokesman.

He was posted in Paris, New York City and Bangkok.

In his last posting in Bangkok, Anam served as UNESCO's Regional Media and Public Affairs Representative.

While in Bangkok, Anam planned to set up a newspaper in Bangladesh with Syed Mohammad Ali, the former editor of The Bangkok Post.

They secured funding from investors Azimur Rahman, A. S. Mahmud, Latifur Rahman, A. Rouf Chowdhury and Shamsur Rahman.

In Anam's words, "The paper was a while in the making. It started in the 80s, with the frantic exchange of letters between S. M. Ali, based in Kuala Lumpur, and myself, based in Bangkok, both working for UNESCO. The plan was that he would retire, in 1988, and I would resign, in 1990, and both of us would return to Bangladesh and launch our paper. The two-year advance presence of Ali Bhai coupled with my frequent visits from Bangkok, sometimes once every month, gave us the chance to finalise investments (with Mahmud Bhai [A S Mahmud], our founding managing director, acting as the catalyst), finalise our plans for the paper, wrap up major recruitments, rent the premises, and most importantly, get the 'declaration'—the official permission to start a newspaper".

It emerged as a symbol of Bangladesh's outspoken, diverse and privately owned press which flourished between 1990 and the late 2000s.

According to the BBC, "The Daily Star is the most popular English-language newspaper in Bangladesh. It was launched as Bangladesh returned to parliamentary democracy a quarter of a century ago, and has always had a reputation for journalistic integrity and liberal and progressive views – a kind of Bangladeshi New York Times".

After working in the United Nations for 14 years, Anam co-founded the newspaper with his mentor Syed Mohammad Ali in 1991 during Bangladesh's democratic transition.

His criticism of the country's two largest political parties and the military has often resulted in him being sued; Anam dismisses the charges and the suits as attacks on press freedom.

He was elected for a second term as chairman of the Asia News Network in 2022 and 2023.

Anam is accused by Awami League leader and Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina of attempting to block funds for her signature Padma Bridge project, a claim which Anam has refuted.

The Hasina government briefly suspended government advertisements in The Daily Star, which are a key source of revenue for Anam's newspaper.

The Daily Star was founded during Bangladesh's transition to parliamentary democracy in 1991.

The period coincided with economic liberalization reforms.

The newspaper quickly gained popularity in the capital Dhaka and the port city of Chittagong.

It became the largest circulating English-language daily in the country, out-beating rivals like The Bangladesh Observer and Holiday.

Its editorial views became highly influential.

After S. M. Ali's death in 1993, Anam began leading the journalistic operations of the newspaper.

The newspaper's parent company Mediaworld Ltd appointed Anam as publisher in 1998.