West Bengal Media

In the modern world newspapers are among the most easy and common ways to propagate information. West Bengal has over five hundred newspapers published daily out of which over three hundred are in Bengali.

The state owned television broadcaster is Doordarshan and the public radio station is All India Radio. Private FM stations are only available in Asansol, Kolkata and Siliguri.

Newspapers of West Bengal generally publish current news of the state, nation and the world. The news published in these newspapers is about political, social, criminal, cultural, business, sports events. They also publish editorials, cartoons focusing on contemporary issues in a comic way and articles by eminent scholarly people.

Some of the major Bengali newspapers in West Bengal are:

• Aajkaal
• Abasar
• Anandabazar Patrika
• Bartaman
• Dainik Jugasankha
• Dainik Suprovat
• Ganashakti

Ganashakti Patrika is a Bengali newspaper and enjoys the distinction of being the official mouthpiece of the West Bengal's unit of Indian Communist Party. The first edition of Ganashakti Patrika appeared in 1967 as a fortnightly newspaper. Before being transformed into a full-fledged daily newspaper, it was published as an evening daily.Ganashakti Patrika also has an online edition and the English edition of the newspaper is published weekly. The newspaper has a good circulation in the capital city of Kolkata and other districts of West Bengal.

Saroj Mukherjee, an active freedom fighter and the state secretary of CPI (M)'s during the 1980's influenced the newspaper with his thoughts and converted Ganashakti into voice of Communism. After the demise of Mukherjee, Anil Biswas, has been carrying on the responsibility. Anil Biswas was the editor of the newspaper.

The political thoughts, activities and achievements of the West Bengal's unit of Indian Communist Party are published in Ganashakti Patrika. Even though Ganashakti is an official mouthpiece of Communist Party of West Bengal, it covers all kinds of news and issues related to society, travel, literature, culture, science, and technology. The newspaper claims that it publishes one of the top science and technology articles among all the Bengali newspaper.

Many writers and political thinkers share their views through Ganashakti Patrika. A unique characteristic of Ganashakti is that it is displayed everyday on roadside woodboards of Kolkata and even in the suburbs. It is an interesting way of propogating knowledge for those people who can't afford to buy a newspaper to read.

• Jago Bangla
• Jugantar
• Karmakshetra
• Prothom Alo
• Sangbad Pratidin
• Uttar Banga Sambad

Some of the main English language newspapers in West Bengal are:

• Asian Age
• Bengal Post
• Calcutta Post
• Darjeeling Times
• Hindustan Times
• Kolkata Mirror
• The Hindu
• The Indian Express
• The Statesman

The Statesman is the oldest English Newspaper of India. It was founded in the year 1875 in Kolkata. Till date it is one of the leading Newspapers of West Bengal. Besides Kolkata The Statesman is also published from Bhubneshwar, New Delhi and Siliguri. It has descended from the collaboration of two newspapers, The Englishman and The Friend of India.

Both, The Englishman and The Friend of India were published from Kolkata. The Englishman was first published in the year 1811.The Statesman, Kolkata began with the name The Statesman and New Friend of India. Very soon the original name was shortened and the newspaper came to be known as The Statesman. After Independence the authority of this newspaper was transferred to the Indians.

The Statesman House of Chowringhee Square in Kolkata functions as the headquarters of this Newspaper. While the Statesman House of Connaught Place in New Delhi is the national editorial office. It is also a member of the Asia News Network.

The Statesman publishes regional, national and international news everyday. It also gives a wide coverage the world wide sports events. There are also many supplements published along with the Kolkata edition of The Statesman. The most noted among these is the Voices. Ever since its birth the Voices has been a favorite among the school goers. Another popular supplement The Statesman, Kolkata is the 8th DAY. It accompanies the main pages of this newspaper every Sunday. He you will get to read articles on a variety of subjects.

An afternoon edition of The Statesman is also available.

The Telegraph

The Telegraph is one of the leading newspapers of Kolkata. It is owned by the Ananda Bazar Patrika Limited. It is an enterprise of the Ananda Publishers. It has been publishing news since the 7th of July, 1982. Presently, The Telegraph, Kolkata is the largest circulated English Newspaper in the eastern part of India.

Apart from the Kolkata center The Telegraph is also published from many other places. In order to cater to the readers of the north east this newspaper is published from Guwahati. The Siliguri edition of The Telegraph is meant for the readers of North Bengal and Sikkim. Ranchi and Jamshedpur are the other two cities from where this News Daily is published.

The Telegraph of Kolkata publishes national, international and regional news. Beside these there is a wonderful coverage given to world sports by this newspaper. To increase the variety of reading materials and provide the customers informations in every possible field they also publish many daily supplements.

Along with the main newspaper you will get a copy of 'Know How' every Monday. This is a tabloid providing interesting information in regarding the field of science and technology. The 'Telegraph Jobs' is published every Tuesday. Here you will get informations on situations vacant and also other useful tips regarding the contemporary job openings. The special colorful tabloid for children, 'Telekids' accompanies the main edition every Wednesday. The other supplements are Career Graph, Weekend and Graphiti.

The Telegraph is considered to be the fastest growing daily of post independence India. There is also an Internet edition of The Telegraph in order to reach more people.

The Times of India

The Times of India one of the leading English language newspapers published from Kolkata. Apart of Kolkata it also published in many important cities of the country. It is considered to be the most widely circulated English Daily >in India. The Times of India was established on the 3rd of November in the year 1838. The newspaper was initially published under the title of The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce.

The present name of this News Daily came into existence from the year 1861. The Times of India is published by the media group named Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. The other publications of this include the Maharashtra Times, Mumbai Mirror, The Economic Times and the Navabharat Times. Their headquarter is situated in New Delhi. Jaideep Bose is functioning as the Executive Editor from the year 2005.

The of The Times of India can be traced back to the British owners of the organization. For a long time it served the British colonizers who resided in the western parts of India. Initially it was launched as a bi-weekly edition and was published on Wednesdays and Saturdays. By the year 1850 daily editions of the newspaper began to be published. Then it used to cover news from America, Europe as well as the Indian Subcontinent. Each edition of The Times of India were regularly transported to some of the European countries. Steamships were used for the purpose.

Two of the most popular supplements of The Times of India are the Education Times and the Times Ascent.

Some of the well-known financial dailies in West Bengal are:

• Business Line
• Business Standard
• Financial Express
• The Economic Times

Some of the eminent Vernacular newspapers in West Bengal are in:

• Gujarati
• Hindi
• Nepali
• Oriya
• Punjabi
• Urdu

Some of the 24-hour television Bengali news channels in West Bengal:

• 24 Ghanta
• ABP Ananda
• Channel 10
• CTVN Plus
• Kolkata TV
• Mahuaa Khobor
• Ne Bangla
• News Time
• R Plus
• Tara Newz

Cellular phone operators and Broadband internet in West Bengal:

• Aircel
• Airtel
• BSNL
• Idea Cellular
• MTS India
• Reliance Communications
• Tata Docomo
• Tata Indicom
• Uninor
• Vodafone

Radio stations in West Bengal

After the invention of television, radio had become an outdated thing. But very recently it has become a rage with young generation. You can find youngsters hearing to radio even on the streets in their mobiles. AIR is one of the first radio stations of India. There are many AIR radio stations in West Bengal. Following are the AIR radio stations of West Bengal with their frequencies:

• All India Radio Asansol 100.3 MHz
• All India Radio Chinsurah 594 kHz, 1134 kHz
• All India Radio Kolkata 657 kHz, 1323 kHz, 97.0 MHz, 103.0 MHz, 1008 kHz, 4820 kHz, 7210 kHz, 95.0 MHz, 100.2 MHz, 102.4 MHz, 104.0 MHz, 107.0 MHz
• All India Radio Kurseong 102.3 MHz
• All India Radio Murshidabad 102.2 MHz
• All India Radio Siliguri 711 kHz

Since Bengali is the chief regional language in West Bengal, the number of radio stations that broadcast in Bengali language are more. But this doesn't mean that there are no radio stations for non-bangla speaking people. Many AIR radio stations also broadcast in the national language Hindi, international language English and other languages.

Many FM radio stations have been established recently in West Bengal. Some of the FM radio stations of Kolkata are Friends FM broadcasted at the frequency of 91.9 MHz, Big 92.7 FM at 92.7 MHz, Red FM at 93.5 MHz, Radio Mirchi at 98.3 MHz, Aamar 106.2 FM at 106.2 MHz. These FM radio stations mostly broadcast film songs and music.