Jatiya Press Club is the professional club for journalists of Bangladesh located in Segunbaghicha, Dhaka.

Jatiya Press Club
Formation1954
HeadquartersSegunbagicha, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Region served
Bangladesh
Members800
Official language
Bengali
Websitewww.jpcbd.org

History

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Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, Prime Minister of Pakistan visited the Press Club in 1958[1]

The Jatiya Press Club was founded in 1954 as the East Pakistan Press Club. It was formed to be run by an elected committee guided by its rules and regulations. The Government of East Pakistan rented out a building at 18, Topkhana Road, Segunbagicha at a monthly rent of Tk 100 to be used as the press club headquarters. The building before 1947 was a residential house of Dhaka University and was once residence to physicist Satyendra Nath Bose.[2]

The first life member of the club was N. M. Khan who was chief secretary of the provincial government. Mujibur Rahman Khan was the first president of the club. On 25 March Pakistan army started Operation Searchlight and shelled the club, the structure was completely destroyed. After the Independence of Bangladesh it was named the National Press Club. In 1977 the building was leased to the club permanently and the government of Bangladesh covered the expense of a new building. In 1995 the club's logo and emblem were selected.[2]

From 2018 to 2020, Saiful Alam was the President and [3] the general secretary was Farida Yasmin, the first woman general secretary of the Jatiya Press club.[4][5] Farida Yasmin was elected president in 2020, the first woman president of the Jatiya Press Club, and Elias Khan was elected general secretary.[6] Farida Yasmin was re-elected president of the Jatiya Press Club and Shyamal Dutta was elected general secretary.[7] On 12 August 2024, A section of Jatiya Press Club's managing committee revoked memberships of its president Farida Yasmin, general secretary Shyamal Dutta and managing committee member Shahnaj Siddiqui Soma.[8]

Structure

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The Jatiya Press Club offers journalists three kinds of membership, first is life membership, second is permanent membership for professional journalists and the third is associate membership for public relations personnel. Associate members do not get voting rights. The National Press Club currently has about 800 members.[2] The press club is managed by a 17-member executive council.[9]

References

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  1. ^ "National Press Club turns 57: My reminiscences". The Daily Star. 2 November 2010. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
  2. ^ a b c "Jatiya Press Club". Banglapedia. Retrieved 21 September 2016.
  3. ^ "Saiful-Farida panel sweeps Jatiya Press Club election". The Daily Star. 19 December 2018. Retrieved 7 April 2019.
  4. ^ "New National Press Club committee pays homage to Bangabandhu". NTV. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
  5. ^ "Jatiya Press Club president Shafiqur, secretary Farida". Banglanews24.com. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
  6. ^ "Farida elected first Jatiya Press Club female president". UNB. 31 December 2020. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
  7. ^ "Jatiya Press Club: Farida, Shyamal elected president, general secretary". The Daily Star. 2023-01-01. Retrieved 2023-01-25.
  8. ^ "Jatiya press club: Memberships of Farida, Shyamal 'revoked'". The Daily Star. 12 August 2024.
  9. ^ "A 17-member executive committee of the Jatiya Press Club was formed at its biennial general meeting held in the auditorium of the club on Thursday. In the meeting Shafiqur Rahman and Kamrul Islam were made President and General Secretary respectively of the committee". The New Nation. Retrieved 21 September 2016.