Stanford University’s Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC) announced today, in the run-up to World Press Freedom Day, that Bangladesh-focused investigative newsroom Netra News is the recipient of the 2025 Shorenstein Journalism Award. Banned in Bangladesh, Netra News is a Sweden-based, independent platform for public interest journalism that publishes reportage, analysis, and debate on Bangladeshi politics and society. The award recognizes the media outlet for its courageous investigations into high-level corruption and human rights abuses in Bangladesh, defending press freedom, and championing the rule of law and democratic values in the country, one of the world’s most difficult places for practicing journalism. APARC will present the Shorenstein Award to Tasneem Khalil, the platform’s founding editor-in-chief, at a ceremony at Stanford University in autumn 2025.

Sponsored by APARC, the annual Shorenstein Award carries a $10,000 cash prize and honors journalists and journalism organizations for advancing a greater understanding of Asia through outstanding reporting on critical issues in the region. Emulating this purpose, Netra News and its team of editors and reporters have published fearless investigations into human rights violations and corruption in Bangladesh, including extrajudicial killings and acts of torture by security forces, deadly custodial abuse by military personnel, an illegal secret prison run by Bangladesh’s notorious military intelligence agency, and state-sponsored cybercrime. 

Bangladesh had experienced political corruption for decades and had long been a dangerous environment for journalists. Between 2001 and 2006 — a time when an interim government supported by the military took over — journalists in the country suffered threats, intimidation, harassment, and torture from law enforcement agencies.

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Investigative reporter Tasneem Khalil experienced the regime’s brutality firsthand. A pioneer of investigative journalism in Bangladesh and author of Jallad: Death Squads and State Terror in South Asia, Khalil had worked for the Bangladeshi English-language Daily Star, consulted Human Rights Watch, and was a news representative for CNN. In 2007, he was arrested and tortured by Bangladesh’s military intelligence agency in response to his reports on human and civil rights violations by state forces. He was released thanks to international pressure and, after several weeks spent in hiding, escaped Bangladesh and took refuge in Sweden.

Over the next decade, press freedom in Bangladesh steadily declined as then-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her ruling party, the Awami League, tightened their grip by brutally harassing and silencing opposition voices and independent civil society figures. To stifle peaceful dissent and curb free expression, the government passed draconian laws, such as the 2018 Digital Security Act (DSA), under which journalists and critics of the Awami League were routinely targeted and prosecuted.

Khalil launched Netra News on December 26, 2019, to hold Bangladesh’s government and security forces accountable and defend fundamental freedoms in the country. Within 48 hours of publishing its first exposé on alleged ministerial corruption, its site was blocked in Bangladesh. Since then, Khalil has overseen Netra News’ growth into the country’s premier independent, non-partisan investigative media outlet, combining offshore human rights-centric public interest journalism with on-the-ground reporting. 

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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.