The government is going to extend the contract of Abul Kalam Azad as the Managing Director and Chief Editor of Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) for another two years with the status of a secretary to the government, sources said.
A career journalist, Azad has been serving the national news agency as its chief since 2014 with the same status while previously he was the Press Secretary to the Prime Minister from 2009 to 2014.
Earlier, he served as the Press Minister at the Bangladesh Embassy in the United States and upon returning from Washington DC in 2002, he was made the Press Secretary to the Awami League President and the then Leader of the Opposition Sheikh Hasina.
Azad embarked on his journalism career with the Dainik Ittefaq in 1973 and subsequently emerged as a professional leader by virtue of his quality as a trade unionist.
He was elected the general secretary and later president of Dhaka Union of Journalists (DUJ). Then he became the secretary general and president of Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ), the apex body of the country’s journalist community.
Alongside his career as a journalist and union leader, Azad served as a member of Dhaka University Senate, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) Syndicate, Press Institute of Bangladesh (PIB) Board of Directors, Bangladesh Press Council and Bangladesh Film Censor Board.