In Bangladesh, stories have always been the oxygen of everyday life. Before smartphones, people gathered around tea stalls, under banyan trees, and in courtyards to exchange news, gossip, warnings, and wisdom. Those conversations shaped trust, reputation, and community bonds. But today, the gathering place has changed. Millions of people now wake up and check their phones before they even greet their families. They scroll through endless feeds of forwarded messages, viral videos, and alarmist headlines. A single voice note about a missing child, a looming flood, a government scheme, or a new health scare can travel from Dhaka to the…

On an ordinary Tuesday morning in Ankara, İsmail Arı walked into a police station. He was a reporter for BirGün, a leftist daily that has stubbornly kept printing in a country where independent journalism has become a dangerous trade. He had been summoned for questioning after a complaint filed by Ebubekir Şahin, the former chair of Turkey’s broadcasting regulator RTÜK. There was no arrest warrant waiting for him, no dramatic raid, no handcuffs in public. He simply arrived to testify, as any citizen might, expecting to answer questions and then go home. Instead, he was taken into custody. The next…