Al-Jazeera’s All the Prime Minister’s Men: How a hybrid regime deals with investigative journalism

Abstract

We analysed the responses of the Bangladesh government and media over the airing of an Al-Jazeera investigation that alleged corruption charges against the then army chief of the country. The report was damaging for the regime as it implied that the country’s prime minister knew about it and apparently rewarded the general by appointing him army chief because he helped her quell political protest when the general was the chief of the country’s paramilitary force. We used multiple analytical frameworks including Schedler’s concept of informational uncertainty () to analyse how the Bangladesh government operated within the country’s media system to shape the narrative in its favour and manage the scandal. Like other contemporary hybrid regimes, the Bangladesh regime, with help from the country’s divided and compromised media system, squashed the effect of the report by employing tactics such as denying the allegations, attacking the credibility of Al-Jazeera, trivializing the report and creating doubts about the investigation. Understanding these tactics can inform policy-makers and media watchdogs about the vulnerabilities in hybrid media systems, emphasizing the need for robust mechanisms to uphold journalistic integrity and hold the power accountable.