Bangladesh Press Council

What Bangladesh Press Council does

Bangladesh Press Council is a quasi-judicial statutory body established under the Press Council Act 1974 and formally constituted on 18 August 1979, commencing operations in October 1980. It operates under Bangladesh's Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and serves as the country's sole statutory regulator of the press. Its primary constituents are newspapers, news agencies, editors, and working journalists in Bangladesh; its mandate is to preserve press freedom, maintain and improve journalistic standards, and adjudicate complaints of ethics violations against media organizations and journalists. The Council is composed of a Chairman and fourteen other members drawn from stakeholder bodies including the Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists, the Council of Editors, newspaper and news agency owners, the University Grants Commission, the Bangladesh Bar Council, Bangla Academy, and the Parliament. As of 2025-2026, the 21st Council is operational under Chairman Justice A K M Abdul Hakim (appointed December 2024) and Secretary Mo. Abdus Sabur (appointed March 2025).

The Council's product and service portfolio spans five core functional modules: a Press Council Judicial System that adjudicates ethics complaints against media; a Press Appeal Board that reviews appeals against District Magistrate decisions on newspaper declarations under the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1973; a Right to Information service handling disclosure requests; an Online Complaint Filing System (http://114.130.119.146/presscouncil/) for electronic submissions; and a Journalist Online Database Registration system for print media. These services are delivered as separate modules on a government web portal hosted on Oracle Cloud infrastructure (objectstorage.ap-dcc-gazipur-1.oraclecloud15.com), without a unified platform-plus-modules architecture. The Council also conducts district-level training workshops across multiple Bangladesh districts.

The Council's business model is non-commercial: it charges no fees for its regulatory or quasi-judicial services and is funded entirely through Government of Bangladesh budgetary allocations via the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Revenue is not publicly disclosed. The headquarters is located at 40, Topkhana Road, Segunbagicha, Dhaka-1000, and the organization is staffed at 11-50 employees. Its go-to-market is institutional rather than commercial, relying on direct engagement with media professionals, official gazette publications, and government communication channels rather than pricing models or commercial distribution.

Name

Bangladesh Press Council

Legal name

Bangladesh Press Council (বাংলাদেশ প্রেস কাউন্সিল)

Website

https://presscouncil.gov.bd

Company type

Private

Founded year

1974

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Bangladesh Press Council is Bangladesh's statutory quasi-judicial body under the Press Council Act 1974 that regulates newspapers, news agencies, and journalists, adjudicating ethics complaints and overseeing press freedom across the country. It serves media professionals, press owners, and aggrieved complainants through its Dhaka headquarters and district training programs.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Media Regulation

NAICS

Executive, Legislative, and Other General Government Support (9211)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYMPAJADAF

Investigative & Nonprofit News Organizations

Media, Entertainment & Sports/Publishing (Books, News, Magazines)/News Publishing (Newspapers, Digital Newsrooms, Wire Services)

Keywords

• Press regulation
• Media governance
• Journalist registration
• Press complaints adjudication
• Media standards enforcement

Headquarters

HQ city

Dhaka

HQ country

Bangladesh

HQ region

Asia

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Others

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Bangladesh Press Council is a quasi-judicial government regulatory body established under the Press Council Act 1974. It adjudicates complaints against newspapers, news agencies, editors, and journalists for violations of journalistic ethics, operates the Press Appeal Board for newspaper declaration disputes, conducts journalist training workshops, maintains a centralized journalist database, and provides right-to-information services.

Product overview

Bangladesh Press Council is a quasi-judicial regulatory body established under the Press Council Act 1974. Its digital services portfolio consists of multiple service modules delivered through its government web portal. The core offerings include a Press Council Judicial System for adjudicating press ethics complaints, a Press Appeal Board for reviewing newspaper declaration appeals, and Right to Information services. Online complaint filing and journalist database registration systems are also provided as digital service channels. All services are delivered as separate functional modules within the same government portal infrastructure without a unified platform-plus-modules architecture.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Press Council Judicial System (বিচারিক ব্যবস্থা) A quasi-judicial mechanism for adjudicating complaints against newspapers, news agencies, editors, and working journalists for violations of journalistic ethics and standards. Handles case filing procedures, application forms, online complaint submission, and published judgments.
• Press Appeal Board (প্রেস আপিল বোর্ড) An appellate body under the Press Council that reviews appeals against District Magistrate decisions regarding newspaper declaration cancellations, refusals, or delays, as mandated under the Printing Presses and Publications (Declaration and Registration) Act, 1973.
• Right to Information Services (তথ্য অধিকার) Information rights services providing designated officers, appellate authorities, quarterly implementation reports, information request forms, and access to the Right to Information Act and regulations.
• Online Complaint Filing System (অনলাইনে মামলা দাখিল) An online portal for filing complaints and appeals electronically against newspapers, news agencies, and journalists, accessible at http://114.130.119.146/presscouncil/.
• Journalist Online Database Registration (সাংবাদিকদের অনলাইন ডাটাবেইজ নিবন্ধন) Online database registration system for journalists in print media, developed by the Press Council to maintain a centralized registry of media professionals.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Press Council of India: Statutory quasi-judicial body established by the Press Council Act 1978 to preserve press freedom and maintain standards of newspapers and news agencies in India. Closest functional analog to the Bangladesh Press Council in structure, mandate, and quasi-judicial authority.
• Nepal Press Council: Statutory press regulatory body in Nepal, established by the Press Council Act 1992. Comparable in enforcing journalistic ethics, handling complaints, and operating as a quasi-judicial body within a South Asian press environment.
• Sri Lanka Press Council: Press regulatory authority in Sri Lanka established under the Press Council Act No. 5 of 1973. Functionally analogous: quasi-judicial adjudication of press complaints, code of conduct enforcement, and government-aligned governance structure in a South Asian jurisdiction.
• Pakistan Press Council: Federal statutory body for press regulation in Pakistan, established under the Press Council of Pakistan Ordinance 2002. Directly comparable in mandate (press freedom, code of conduct enforcement, complaint adjudication) and South Asian regulatory context.

Regional players

• UK Press Recognition Panel: Independent body created by the Royal Charter on Self-Regulation of the Press (2013) to approve press self-regulators in the UK. Comparable in functioning as a meta-regulator for press standards, though operates in a fundamentally different (non-statutory) governance model.
• German Press Council (Deutscher Presserat): Voluntary self-regulatory body of the German press that adjudicates complaints and publishes rulings on press ethics. Comparable in complaint adjudication and code-of-conduct enforcement, though voluntary rather than statutory.

Others

• Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ): Independent nonprofit that promotes press freedom worldwide and documents attacks on journalists. Adjacent — shares the mission of protecting press freedom and is a potential partner for press-freedom programming in Bangladesh.
• Reporters Without Borders (RSF): International NGO that defends press freedom and the safety of journalists. Adjacent — operates in Bangladesh on press-freedom advocacy and could engage with the Press Council on standards and journalist protection.
• International Federation of Journalists (IFJ): Global federation of journalists' trade unions and professional associations that promotes press freedom and ethical journalism. Adjacent — operates internationally on similar values (press freedom, journalism standards) and could partner with national press councils for capacity building.
• World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA): Global organization of the world's newspapers and news publishers, supporting independent journalism and press freedom. Adjacent — engages with national press regulatory bodies on industry standards and could partner with the Bangladesh Press Council on training programs.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat2 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Bangladesh Press Council