The newsroom’s bold coverage, published in English and Bangla, has earned international recognition, including a Sigma Award, a Human Rights Press Award, and a Global Shining Light Award. In summer 2024, as mass student-led protests against Ms. Hasina broke out across Bangladesh and authorities imposed violent crackdowns and internet blackouts, Netra News emerged as a rare source of non-partisan information on the unfolding events. The protests toppled Hasina’s authoritarian government, whose actions may amount to crimes against humanity, according to a recent United Nations report.
“Operating amid severe risks, Netra News has become a vital force for speaking truth to power and defending the rule of law in Bangladesh,” said Stanford sociologist Gi-Wook Shin, the William J. Perry Professor of Contemporary Korea and the director of APARC. “Under Tasneem Khalil’s leadership, the newsroom investigations have pushed the boundaries of accountability journalism and innovative storytelling. We are excited to honor Netra News with the 2025 Shorenstein Journalism Award and recognize Mr. Khalil’s fight for human rights and press freedom.”
Presented annually by APARC, the Shorenstein Award honors the legacy of APARC’s benefactor, Mr. Walter H. Shorenstein, and his twin passions for promoting excellence in journalism and understanding of Asia. The judging committee for the award, which selected Netra News as the 2025 honoree, noted that the newsroom’s work will be crucial as Bangladesh, now led by an interim government headed by Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus, tries to pursue constitutional reform, safeguard what young people have made possible, and avert a return to authoritarian rule.
The judging committee members are William Dobson, co-editor of the Journal of Democracy; Anna Fifield, Asia-Pacific Editor of the Washington Post and recipient of the 2018 Shorenstein Journalism Award; James Hamilton, vice provost for undergraduate education, Hearst Professor of Communication, and director of the Stanford Journalism Program at Stanford University; Louisa Lim, associate professor, audio-visual journalism culture and communication at the University of Melbourne; and Raju Narisetti, partner and leader of McKinsey Global Publishing, McKinsey & Company.
Twenty-three honorees previously received the Shorenstein award, including most recently Chris Buckley, chief China correspondent for the New York Times; India’s premier magazine of long-form journalism The Caravan; NPR’s Emily Feng for her work as Beijing correspondent; Swe Win, editor-in-chief of the independent Burmese news organization Myanmar Now; Tom Wright, co-author of the bestseller Billion Dollar Whale and a veteran Asia reporter; and Nobel Laureate Maria Ressa, CEO and executive editor of the Philippines-based news organization Rappler.
Information about the 2025 Shorenstein Journalism Award ceremony and panel discussion featuring Mr. Khalil will be forthcoming in the fall quarter.