A total of 1,600 media personnel, including 150 women, were sacked from their respective jobs during Covid-19 pandemic while 52 journalists died of the virus since March last year.
British rights group Article-19 revealed the data in a webinar jointly organised by the group and Asia Foundation on Wednesday, marking World Press Freedom Day.
Article-19 senior programme officer Moriom Shelly, who presented her research paper on the webinar, said that a total of 172 cases were filed against the journalists under the Digital Security Act in 2020.
Sohrab Hossain, Joint Editor at the daily Prothom Alo, Mithila Farzana, Current Affairs Editor at Ekattar TV, Salim Samad, Correspondent at the Reporters Without Border, Faruk Foysal, regional director for Bangladesh and South Asia at Article-19 among others attended the programme.