The Journalism and Research Initiative (JATRI), which is included in the $18 million allotted by the U.S. government for the Promoting Governance, Accountability, Transparency and Integrity project, will "develop and promote investigative journalism at the city's Brac University," The Daily Star reported Friday.

At the launch celebration for the centre, Information Minister Abul Kaleem Azad spoke of the declining integrity amongst media professionals and organisations saying, "it has become a regular phenomenon that whenever a man manages to have some money, he or she wants to own a media house, either it be newspaper or television channel or radio station."

The editor of the Bangladeshi newspaper Prothom Alo maintained that readers expect more from their newspapers and journalists, saying they don't want to read a publication that "acts like a mouthpiece of any political party."

The JATRI centre will focus on training, analysing and educating students in the field of investigative journalism, the Daily Star reported in an article posted by Asia Media.