The history of Assamese print media is more than 160 years old. The journey was started with "Arunodoi". It was first published in January, 1846
from Sibsagar. Dr. Nathan Brown was the first editor of the monthly magazine. There were many newspapers/magazines published after
Arunodoi, some survived for long, some disappeared quickly. But by and large all of them contributed to the Assamese society,
language and media.
In 1882, Hemchandra baruah published wekkly tabloid "Assam News" in both assamese and english which was in true sense a newspaper. But it was short lived and the
publication was stopped within 3 years in 1885. In 1894 Manik Chandra Barua and Kaliram Barua together published another weekly "Assam".
The newspaper got attention of the general public and became popular for some time. In 1895 Radhanath Changkakoty published
english weekly newspaper, "Times of Assam" from Dibrugarh. The newspaper continued contributing to the Assamese society for
more than five decades till 1947.
Nathan Brown - The Editor of first Assamese Journal
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In 14th January, 1900, Padmanath Gohain Barua published weekly "Assam Bonti". Later the newspaper was named as "Bonti". It continued
publishing till 1944. In 1902 two english newspapers were published from Dibrugarh, "The eastern Herald" and "Citizen". In 1918,
Chandrakumar Agarwala published "Xhadiniya Xhongbaad". In 1927 Kirtinath Sharma published "Xhadiniya Raaiz" and in 1929 Nilamoni
Phukan published daily "Dainik Batori" from Jorhat.In 1932 "Axom Xevak" and in 1935 Ambikagiri Raichoudhury published "Deka Axom".
The newspaper continued publication till 1954. After the death of Raichoudhury in 1967, his son Bhagagiri Raichoudhury republished the
newspaper, but didn't continue long. In 1989 the "Deka Axom" was republished as a trimonthly magazine by Skhitish Chandra Phukan.
But it was not successful. In 1939 Benudhar Sharma published "Tarun Axom" from from Dibrugarh.
In 1946 Debakanta Barua published "Dainik Axomiya". But it just lasted for only two years. In 1949 Mr Barua published
"Natun Axomiya". Later Birinchi kumar Barua, Kirtinath Hazarika, etc took editorship of the newspaper. This daily created
a new horizon in Assamese news media.
After Independence, Assam witness numerous daily and weekly newspapers. "Raaiz", "Xaantidoot", "Axom Batori" (Chandraprasad Saikia),
"Nilachal"(Homen Borgohauin), "Ganatatra", "Mahajaati" (Purnanarayan Sighna), "Alok", "Nagorik", etc are a few to name with.
To know the currently published daily Assamese Newspapers, please visit this page and for weekly Newspapers this.
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