Bangladesh’s journalists celebrate a rare six-day Eid holiday, a historic break from the relentless news cycle and editorial pressures
(ANN/THE DAILY STAR) – In Bangladesh, journalists face the inevitabilities of life: deadlines, difficult bosses, and holidays often deserved yet denied.
However, sometimes, the universe conspires to bring about unexpected changes. Recently, the Newspaper Owners’ Association of Bangladesh (NOAB) acknowledged that while they couldn’t eliminate the first two challenges, they could address the third.
As a result, they declared an unprecedented Eid holiday this year, granting journalists six days off. This break comes with no conditions or hidden clauses, offering a true reprieve from the usual grind of reporting, writing, and editing.
It felt almost too good to be true.
What’s so special about a six-day holiday, you could ask. Well, for one, this is apparently the longest that journalists have ever gotten in the history of Bangladesh’s newspaper industry.
It is certainly the longest in my career or that of anyone I asked around.
Usually, NOAB norms dictate a three-day holiday starting on the eve of Eid. You would be lucky if Ramadan lasts for all 30 days, adding one more day of cheer to your holiday-starved life.
This year, however, other influences and occasions, including the Bangla New Year, coalesced to add two more days. There are practical issues and implications to be considered, I’m told.
But let’s leave them for the more adult among us for now, and focus on the unique nature of this moment.
If this is a clarion call for it to turn things around amid the digital chaos and shrinking prospects for print business, so be it.
For years, journalists have had to see their weekends and holidays come up woefully short or slip through their fingers amid contrasting priorities.
I remember a former boss telling me that “for journalists, a holiday is not a right, but a privilege” – to be had only if granted. Those privileges are not a dime a dozen.
And as the walls between print and digital media began to collide, the responsibility for journalists multiplied, as did the pressure on their shoulders. So they toiled on tirelessly, their time apart from work measured in value but not in number, until now.
So if the holiday notice is meant to be a once-in-a-lifetime Eid gift for them, so be it.
If it is the universe’s way of reminding everyone of the injustice embedded in how the industry operates, from morning to midnight, constantly demanding our time and output while offering very little in the way of remunerations, so be it.
If this is a clarion call for it to turn things around amid the digital chaos and shrinking prospects for print business, so be it.
Breaking news may not wait until we return. But be certain that we will not wait for it either. So, dear journalists, are you planning your “mega holiday” right?
A holiday, whether long or short, is only as good as you make it, as the quality of the journey you undertake or the books you take on it, as the food you get to eat and the people you share it with, as the pictures you return with, and basically as the sum of your whole experience.
So be careful to plan and use your time right. Make it count.
If you Google it, there are a whole bunch of things you can do while on a holiday. Be sure to give them a read.
Since a holiday as a concept is not something that journalists are encouraged to ponder upon for long, don’t expect to find anything on local experiences.
My idea of making the most of this time, partly inspired by a compilation of recollections by the journalists of The Guardian, is travelling, which I plan to do plenty of, and it would be nice to share them with the readers once work returns to me, or I return to it.
Until then, let there be holiday! – Badiuzzaman Bay
