April 11, 2024
DHAKA – In Bangladesh, a journalist knows certain things to be inevitable in life: deadlines, horrible bosses, and deserved but oft-denied holidays. But sometimes the universe does conspire to make things happen that otherwise wouldn’t have. Earlier this week, the Newspaper Owners’ Association of Bangladesh (NOAB) decided that since it cannot grant journalists a reprieve from the first two hazards of the profession, it could at least try and do something about the last. So it declared an unprecedented Eid-ul-Fitr holiday comprising a grand total of six days!
No ifs or buts. No asterisks. No sucker punch of a note slipped in at the end of the notice saying, “However, newspapers will be published under special arrangements.” No exceptions or exclusions (well, almost). Six days of bliss and freedom from the relentless grind of reporting, writing, editing, and so on.
It felt almost too good to be true.
What’s so special about a six-day holiday, you could ask. Well, 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.
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.
For years, journalists have had to see their weekends and holidays come up short or slip through their fingers while trying to accommodate jostling 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. These privileges are not a dime a dozen. And as the worlds of 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 holiday right?
A holiday, whether long or short, is only as good as you make it. It is as good as 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 in Bangladesh 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 to it.
Until then, let there be holiday!