A weekly Assamese infotainment broadsheet newspaper published from Majuli, Assam, “Asom Barta” is well known in the state news world focusing on Assam-specific issues, health & lifestyle, brands, new launches, entertainment etc. It also includes national/international news stories and is more analytical, investigative and rich in data stories.
The newspaper was founded by Tonay Borah and owned by “AB Private Limited”, dated on 1st January 2020. First 2 months the newspaper published only digitally. After a good response from readers, they started printing. It mainly targets students, working professionals, entrepreneurs and youth.
The 8-pages broadsheet has a price of ₹10, claimed readership of around of 10,000 copies. Broadsheet primarily caters to readers over the age of 16, belonging to the category SEC B and above. Tonay said that the price tag was not too high as rural Indian spend about ₹50 a month for their feature phone services. Therefore, ₹40 a month for a newspaper which keeps them informed about developments important to them is quite reasonable.
Asom Barta is currently edited by Tonay Borah, who has five years of experience on any other Assamese newspaper. Speaking about the idea, Borah said, “Assam is an emerging market in the country. Audience tastes are evolving much more than ever before and current print medium choices are largely classified into dailies that provide reports and hard news and magazines (mostly monthly) that are primarily focused on life. Style is in style. It gives space for an Assam-based Assamese weekly in infotainment style for a population.
Asom Barta is also present on digital platform through social media, website and mobile app. Speaking on the idea behind choosing the broadsheet format, Borah said that the broadsheet has always been the favorite of the state and provides an opportunity to deal with different content from dailies or magazines. It is an exciting medium and since the new Indian is always on the move, something concise as well as informative would work well. Also, he says that the stage is secondary; It’s the content that will make it click. The broadsheet format appeared best suited for the content being provided by the publication.