Amardesh Online Bangla Newspaper

Amar Desh was a daily newspaper in Bangladesh that was published in Bengali from Dhaka. At present, it has an online presence only. Amar Desh reports about Bangladesh from a local and regional viewpoint, as well as global news. Amar Desh is a popular opposition journal in Bangladesh that favors the Bangladesh Nationalist Party in its editorials.

The online portal of this newspaper is handled from London, United Kingdom. Now, you can find this news portal at amardesh.co.uk. The headquarters of this newspaper was located at 446/C-446/D Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

History

On September 23, 2004, Enayetur Rahman Bappi, the managing director of NTV, and Mosaddek Ali Falu, a BNP politician formally inaugurated Amar Desh. The publication was sold when Falu was in prison in 2008. Amanullah Kabir, a journalist, was the editor of this newspaper until it was sold.

On October 6, 2008, Mahmudur Rahman and some other shareholders acquired the company and constituted a new board of directors. Rahman was appointed chairman of Amar Desh Publications Ltd. Hashmat Ali became the publisher. Rahman was appointed as acting editor.

Before his detention, Rahman identified Amar Desh as the third-biggest national daily with the second-most online readership. Amar Desh's daily circulation increased dramatically to 200,000 copies by 2013. Amar Desh costs 12 takas.

According to the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and other organizations, the Awami League government has engaged in "judicial harassment" of Mahmudur Rahman and his newspaper. On June 1, 2010, the Awami League government suspended Amar Desh's license.

The Bangladesh Police detained its editor, Mahmudur Rahman, and used force to shut down Amar Desh. After 10 days, the High Court overturned the government, allowing Amar Desh to resume publishing.

Mir Ahmed Miru, a photographer, was injured in 2013 amid violence between Shahbagh demonstrators and Jamaat-e-Islami party members. According to reports, 26 journalists and bloggers were hurt in separate events.

After Rahman's detention for publishing data from the Skype talks, Bangladesh police took down the Amar Desh newspaper again on 11 April 2013, although the Amar Desh was allowed to disseminate a restricted version for the following three days in Dhaka, prompting a government investigation on The Daily Sangram. On Saturday, Magistrate Nasrin Sultana sued Sangram's editor and publisher Abul Asad for printing editions of Amar Desh.

In the late evening, police raided the Sangram headquarters, confiscating approximately 6,000 copies of the Amar Desh and arresting 19 employees. The printers were taken immediately to jail after the judge granted their requests for remand and bail.

In Rahman's absence, Amar Desh is led by Rahman's mother. According to Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu, Amar Desh might continue printing from another site after it received an order from Dhaka's magistrate. In 2020, Mahmudur Rahman relaunched the website from London.

Content

At present, Amardesh publishes online news only. This Bangladeshi newspaper offers local and regional news about Bangladesh, as well as international news. It covers news under some news categories including Shompadokiyo (Editorial), Upo-shompadokiyo (Sub-editorial), Motamot (Opinion), Shongbad (News), Jibon, Shomaj O Shahitto (Life, Society, and Literature), Lekhok O Column (Columnists and Columns), and News Bulletin. The news website publishes news videos as well.

Supplements and Features

The newspaper presently provides no supplements. But it covers feature news in regular categories such as Shompadokiyo, Upo-shompadokiyo, Motamot, Jibon, Shomaj O Sahitya, Lekhok O Column, etc.

Editions

Amardesh offers a Bengali edition only but the editorial and sub-editorial sections include feature news in the English language. This newspaper does not offer any special editions for UK or USA.

Competition

This newspaper had a circulation of 200,000 copies before the publication ceased. It was one of the most circulated newspapers of that time. Its top competitors were Prothom Alo, Jugantor, Bangladesh Pratidin, etc. The online portal of this newspaper is now one of the most visited news websites. The top competitors of this news portal are jugantor.com, bd-pratidin.com, bdnews24.com, etc.

App Products

Amardesh does not offer any official app products. You can find them by browsing their official website. Besides, Amardesh Online is available on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter.

Editors

Since 2004, Journalist Amanullah Kabir had worked as an editor for the Daily Amar Desh newspaper. While working as a journalist, he wrote poems, stories, and various articles. Later in his career, he concentrated on writing about current affairs in Bengali and English.

After Amanullah Kabir, Ataus Samad became the acting editor of the Daily Amardesh. He got Ekushey Padak in 1992. He started his career as a journalist in 1959. In this career, he was engaged with a wide range of news media such as Pakistan Observer, BBC, BSS, NTV, Amardesh, and weekly EKhon.

Mahmudur Rahman became the acting editor of this popular newspaper in 2008. He has still been serving as the editor for Amardesh. Mahmudur Rahman obtained the Bengali-language daily newspaper Amar Desh in 2008 and was appointed provisional editor. He has elevated it to the status of a significant opposition publication.

Final Words

Amardesh is one of the most popular newspapers in Bangladesh. This national daily had a large circulation. After ceasing the print edition, this newspaper has been maintaining a new website. This paper has a long history of threats and obstacles. But it has a large number of online readership still today.