The Newspaper Owners Association of Bangladesh and the Editors’ Council in a joint statement on Tuesday said that journalists faced insecurity while carrying out their professional responsibility amid the ongoing confrontation.

Noting the death of several journalists while on duty and sustaining of injuries by a hundred journalists, including photojournalists, the two organisations said that all involved parties should take responsibility to ensure safety of news professionals.

The NOAB and the Editors’ Council also said that exchange and verification of  information suffered serious disruption due to the ongoing internet blackout since Thursday.

The statement said that the internet service shutdown gave way to the apprehension of information blackout.

They also said that information blackout deteriorated the overall confrontation situation over the past several days as false and baseless information and rumors spread.

The NOAB and Editors’ Council also expressed concern over internet shutdown hampering economic activities across the board.

The organisations welcomed the government announcement for making the broadband internet facility available in some parts of the capital by Tuesday night on experimental basis.

They, however, demanded full restoration of the internet facility soon.

They also demanded uninterrupted internet connectivity for the mass media in case similar situations arose in future.

The joint statement was signed by Editors’ Council president Mahfuz Anam and NOAB president AK Azad.

Earlier, they expressed condolences over death of people and sympathies to those injured during the protests.

They demanded impartial investigation into the killings, rampages, destructions and arson attacks perpetrated during the protests.