The Book The Birth of Bangladesh in American Press Jaglul Alam “The American press, like other world media, followed and observed the day-to-day developments that finally led to the emergence of a new nation Bangladesh 10,000 miles away. The turbulent political events of the 1960s and the 1970s were adequately focused there although the US readership on the issue, during that period, was negligible. In those times, the Asians did not crowd the USA as they do today to show greater interest in the Bangladesh events. Perhaps because of its internationally strategic importance, the Bangladesh situation later emerged crucial and made them immensely interested. On the other hand, migration of more than 10 million people from erstwhile East Pakistan to India and their sufferings caught the attention of the American press as it had assumed a volatile humanitarian issue. It is interesting to note that the small local newspapers of the interior areas of the US, with more limited readership, were more interested than others on developments revolving round Bangladesh. The media interpreted the situation from various perspectives. This book reflects a historic US perspective on the emergence of Bangladesh and outlook of various interest groups on the situation in the eyes of individual American newspapers. Many of the reports, articles and commentaries originated from the wire services of the USA, Pakistan and India, but the presentation and display of the news items reflected the newspapers' own perceptions and preferences. When compiling various age-old printed materials, the author had to narrate the happenings from his own view, but with an objective mind. Adequate care was taken for maintaining a neutral posture. The author, as I see while reading the compilation, had to take great pains to unearth volumes of rare documents to produce the book. This, I hope, has given the book the shape of a historical document. The job of compiling the age-old materials was indeed a difficult task but it carried a valuable historical responsibility. The author had to leaf through mountains of information that found its way into the American press to produce the book as it is today. By going through the book, the readers will get the pulse of the Bangladesh independence struggle without any distortion. The author deserves thanks for adding the useful chapter of the American press vis-à-vis the Bangladesh freedom struggle to the skinny list of materials on the subject.” – Rahman Jahangir, Editorial Consultant, The Financial Express, Dhaka and former Bangladesh Correspondent of The Saudi Gazette, The Arab News. The Khaleej Times, and The Anandabazar Patrika. The Author Jaglul Alam, an eminent Bangladesh journalist, hails from village Karimpur of Narsingdi district. Educated mostly in capital Dhaka. Born in 1953, Jaglul had his Master's degree in Political Science from the University of Dhaka in 1977 and the following year in Mass Communications and Journalism from the same university. He received a Diploma-in-Journalism from the International Institute of Journalism in Moscow in 1988, Diploma on the Subcontinent English Language Journalism from the Center for Foreign Journalists in Reston of Virginia, USA in 1989 and was a Fellow of the US Foreign Policy Making Process in the University of Maryland at College Park in 1990-91. As a professional, Jaglul Alam started his career in the erstwhile Weekly New Nation in 1977 as a reporter and subsequently worked for Weekly Holiday, Daily Sangbad, Daily Deshbangla. Weekly and Daily Orthoniti, Daily Independent and Daily Orthoniti Protidin. He was closely associated with the Dainik Bangla and Weekly Bichitra as a regular contributor, worked as the Bangladesh Correspondent of Dubai-based Gulf News during the mid-eighties and was a two-time elected Executive Committee member of the National Press Club, Dhaka. During his career, he got the opportunity to learn journalism from the great Bangladesh press personalities like Ahmed Humayun, Ataus Samad, ABM Musa, Enayetulah Khan, Bazlur Rahman, Nirmal Sen, Santosh Gupta, Fazal M Kamal, Achintya Sen, Ferdous Ahmed Quereshi, Hasan Sayeed, Khondokar Ali Ashraf, N M Harun, Shahadat Chowdhury, Mahfuzullah, Ahmed Nure Alam and many others. His earlier publications include Perestroika: Transformation of Soviet Socialism, Bangladeshe Bamponthi Rajnitir Gotidhara, Emergence of Bangladesh and Big Power Role in 1971 (Bethany Books, USA and Sweden), Bangladesh-Varat-Pakistan Markin State Department-er Gopon Dalil – All of them have published from Bangala Gobeshona now and seven more books have published from the UPL (translated from English to Bangla). He performs his responsibility as the Editor-in-Chief of the online newspaper newsworld365.com published simultaneously from Bangladesh and the USA.
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