The observance of the seventeenth founding anniversary of The Financial Express last week is testimony to the positive role the newspaper has played in Bangladesh's business journalism all these years. When it first hit the stands, it stood out not only for its look, which was at variance with the image presented by other newspapers, but also for the theme on which it meant to work. Fundamentally, it was --- and remains --- a publication geared to a presentation of news and comments on business, particularly in the national arena. In the years since it was founded, The Financial Express has worked quietly but passionately and in so doing has carved a niche for itself among Bangladesh's newspaper-reading public.
As we have consistently made it a point, the appearance of a new newspaper and its smooth functioning are a cause for happiness because of a couple of important reasons. The first is that it demonstrates the growing number of people inclined to reading newspapers, in this case English language newspapers, and by extension offers readers a new outlet for the dissemination of news and comments. The second is that it brings forth a new approach to the issues of the day and in so doing injects a certain intellectual dimension into the on-going issues being discussed in the public domain. The Financial Express, we are happy to say, has been carrying out these responsibilities to the satisfaction of its readers and others across the country. Its core readership has been well-served by the substantive nature of the points of view it has always presented to them. In a socio-political
clime where journalism, particularly where it concerns the publication and sales of newspapers, is a difficult proposition, The Financial Express has indeed done well for itself.
We offer our heartiest felicitations to The Financial Express as it embarks on its eighteenth year of publication.