Exactly a year after launching its digital news portal, www.babushahi.com, Tirchhi Nazar Media Group launches its international news alert service targeted to serve the Punjabi NRI diaspora across the globe. Terming it as a Diwali gift to their news subscribers the world over, the media group’s Babushahi World SMS News alert will cover the US, Canada, Australia, parts of Europe including Italy and New Zealand, informs Baljit Balli, editor of Tirchhi Nazar Media.
Receiving close to four lakh visitors to their website since its inception, Balli says they were highly motivated to extend their news dissemination services to an eager audience across the world.
Though the SMS news service is already running in India for an year now, Balli believes going international will be another feather added to the news portal’s hat, since Punjab NRIs are dependent on online news sources for information related to their home state. Balli, who has previously worked in close tandem with Punjabis settled abroad owing to his wide experience in print journalism, has made arrangements for crisp, authentic and fast broadcast of important news information regarding Punjab’s politicians and bureaucracy.
Having started the web portal from a Chandigarh office last year, Balli will also soon expand. He revels in the freedom of expression that online media offers to journalism, as compared with other sources.
Sharing more information on the USP of his news portal in a market where media faces stiff competition, Balli says there are many firsts to his online venture, such as availability of news archives. “For instance,” he elaborates, “Every important bit of information about the Punjab Assembly Elections 2012 as well as the SGPC elections has been recorded on the website. I took care to include this feature since I was faced with information shortage on the net when I was researching for stories.” Balli says there is also a provision of PDF files that have all information that comes in registered format.
“I also observed that people in the NCR region were quite unaware of developments in Punjab. In such a scenario, it was necessary to ensure regular updates on our website,” adds he.
Sharing more information on the USP of his news portal in a market where media faces stiff competition, Balli says there are many firsts to his online venture, such as availability of news archives. “For instance,” he elaborates, “Every important bit of information about the Punjab Assembly Elections 2012 as well as the SGPC elections has been recorded on the website. I took care to include this feature since I was faced with information shortage on the net when I was researching for stories.” Balli says there is also a provision of PDF files that have all information that comes in registered format.
“I also observed that people in the NCR region were quite unaware of developments in Punjab. In such a scenario, it was necessary to ensure regular updates on our website,” adds he.
However, there seems ample work in the offing, since Balli has elaborate plans up his sleeve, to be accomplished within the next six months to a year. “It is my dream mission to include all important Punjab related developments on the website in the next two years, so you won’t even need Google.
Also, I am diversifying and redesigning the portal so as to cover international events and publish the same on Babushahi.com. Of course, we’ll need resources to run that, but I’m hoping to establish it in the next six months,” he signs off.
SMS service will be free of cost for the first two months. NRIs who want to avail this service may send their phone numbers and e-mail address at info@babushahi.com.