Dhaka, May 22 -- The impact of a national newspaper is not measured by circulation alone. Circulation counts copies and clicks; it does not measure influence. Influence is the capacity to shape what a society discusses, how issues are framed, and which questions those in power cannot ignore. A newspaper may be widely read and yet intellectually marginal, while another, with fewer readers, may define the national conversation. Influence is not a number; it is an effect.

A newspaper that matters does not disappear after it is read. Its reporting and opinions are repeated in conversation, debated on television, cited in policy circles, forwarded through private networks, and contested across social media. The modern public sphere is not a s...