Khalidi: Journalist who helped usher Bangladesh into digital age
DHAKA: The history of online journalism in Bangladesh cannot be told without Toufique Imrose Khalidi. He was there at its beginning, when news still travelled largely through teleprinters and the internet was only beginning to reshape how information moved.
And he did more than embrace the new technology: he helped establish the professional standards that would define it.
Khalidi, the editor-in-chief of bdnews24.com, died at 59 after giving Bangladesh’s journalism some of its most consequential firsts.
He took particular pride in one of them: making attribution a discipline rather than a courtesy. At bdnews24.com, journalists were expected to name their sources, and he would speak proudly of having made that practice a strict part of the newsroom’s culture.
Khalidi once said: “We were able to deeply embed objectivity in Bangladeshi journalism. Now no one can simply produce reports based on stories and rumours whenever they want.”
He was equally forthright about another principle: journalism should not bend under pressure.
He spoke openly about refusing to bow, and repeatedly demonstrated the stubbornness required to stand upright when the pressure was at its greatest.
“We have gone through many difficult situations. In the end, we did not bow our heads. I believe that, ultimately, we have won,” he said.
That hard-earned “victory” was something he spoke of with quiet defiance.
On bdnews24.com’s 18th anniversary in 2024, he said: “We will continue to survive with our heads held high in the days ahead. No one will be able to suppress us.”
After his death, colleagues and readers returned again and again to that defiance, and to the role he played in making objectivity and reliability central to the identity of bdnews24.com. 
For Afsan Chowdhury, a researcher of the Liberation War, journalist, columnist and teacher who worked with Khalidi at both the BBC and bdnews24.com, the ability to remain detached from the news was among his greatest achievements.
Despite the many political changes Bangladesh has gone through, Chowdhury said, bdnews24.com remains “the most reliable”.
“Even now, after all these years, if a piece of news does not appear on bdnews24.com, I cannot believe it.”
He explained why he believed Khalidi had achieved that level of trust.
“The thing he managed to do, to a great extent, was to report the news objectively -- that is very important. Others cannot do that. Others become participants, become stakeholders in the good and bad of the news. But bdnews24.com’s news-making was always objective.
Despite the many political changes Bangladesh has gone through, Chowdhury said, bdnews24.com remains “the most reliable”.
“Even now, after all these years, if a piece of news does not appear on bdnews24.com, I cannot believe it.”
He explained why he believed Khalidi had achieved that level of trust.
“The thing he managed to do, to a great extent, was to report the news objectively -- that is very important. Others cannot do that. Others become participants, become stakeholders in the good and bad of the news. But bdnews24.com’s news-making was always objective.
“And the people who wrote columns, that is another matter. I also wrote, countless others wrote, and the views we got were unimaginable. That was 15 years ago. But what I think is most important is that Toufique never allowed the news to go beyond objectivity.”
Chowdhury said he still begins his day with bdnews24.com.
“I read bdnews24 first every day. You cannot imagine how great an achievement that is. At one point, perhaps, it was the only online media outlet of its kind, and that is why it was so important. The historic role of bdnews24.com, the modern digital media -- bdnews24.com did it first in Bangladesh and did it successfully.”
Public health expert and Bangladesh JaSaD Standing Committee Member Mushtuq Husain, who had known Khalidi for years, also memorialised him as someone who took online journalism to a different level.
Their relationship stretched from student politics at Dhaka University to interviews at the BBC and, later, regular contact through bdnews24.com.
“Toufique took online journalism to a standard of quality and commitment. He took [bdnews24.com], which was almost on the verge of shutting down, and built it up piece by piece into an internationally reputable and reliable news organisation,” Husain said.
The principle was straightforward: speed was never worth sacrificing certainty.
“Instead of rushing out fast or sensational news, [bdnews24.com’s] core policy was to publish 100 percent verified, truthful news even if it took a little longer, so that no report would have to be withdrawn after being proved wrong. Even when there was an opportunity to obtain a television licence, Toufique did not pursue it because he sensed corruption in the process.”
Mushtuq hoped Khalidi’s colleagues would carry that tradition forward, emerging from their grief to preserve the objective journalism he had spent his career building and to bring his contribution to a new generation.
The commitment to truth was not confined to the newsroom.
For Julian Henry Francis, the British-born development and social worker who helped refugees during Bangladesh’s 1971 Liberation War, Khalidi’s commitment to truth went beyond the daily news.
Francis, who described Khalidi as a close friend, recalled how the editor encouraged him to confront memories of the atrocities he had witnessed during the war after years of keeping those experiences to himself.
“When we met about 20 years ago, he always encouraged me to not only write the truth but from the heart as well,” Francis said.
“For many years I had bottled up my emotions and feelings related to the genocidal horrors I witnessed in 1971. He helped me to tell my story.”
Francis said Khalidi encouraged him to write in detail not only about what he witnessed during the Liberation War, but also about corruption he had encountered in Bangladesh in the decades that followed.
“He wanted the truth!”
He also pointed to bdnews24.com’s recently published three-volume history of the formation of Bangladesh as reflecting the same commitment.
“The massive three volume history of the formation of Bangladesh that Bdnews has recently published is testament to the value he gave to truth and the accurate history of Bangladesh,” Francis said.
“May he rest in peace.”
(Published less. To read more visit https://bdnews24.com/media-en/6tfqh7xv5u )