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Published : 23 Oct 2017, 08:24 PM
The people behind bdnews24.com, one of the most trusted brands in news, celebrated their anniversary in the place where they meet every day -- their newsroom at Dhaka’s Mohakhali.
With the main celebration scheduled for Saturday, bdnews24.com journalists and other employees came together in their second home to cherish the years spent in serving honest reports to millions of readers.
The crew was joined by columnists who provide fresh insights with their commentaries for the bilingual site in Bangla and English.
On Saturday, bdnews24.com, the country’s first online newspaper, will celebrate its birthday with newsmakers, friends from the media and the family members of employees.
“We always want to be the first. But, more than this, we want to be accurate,” said bdnews24.com Editor-in-chief Toufique Imrose Khalidi amid the celebrations.
“I always tell my colleagues that we don’t mind being second or third, but never inaccurate.”
In the 11 years of operation, bdnews24.com has earned praise for introducing many firsts as a digital news provider, including mobile sites and breaking news SMS alerts.
It is Bangladesh’s largest news publisher by reach and volume with 10 million unique visitors and 100 million page views a month. Its Facebook page has 8.5 million followers.
bdnews24.com has over 500 journalists across the country and in major cities across the world and its 24/7 newsroom serves news as it happens.
But it had started its journey as a news agency in 2005. Then known simply as BDNEWS, it became the first to ever operate over the web in Bangladesh.
The only other news agencies -- state-owned Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha and privately-owned United News of Bangladesh -- were teleprinter-based ‘wire services’.
In mid-2006, the ownership of its holding company, Bangladesh News 24 Hours Limited, was vested between two sole board directors: Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief Toufique Imrose Khalidi and Chairman Asif Mahmood.
Khalidi, a former BBC broadcaster, wanted to open a window to the world on Bangladesh, which had little presence in the World Wide Web.
“Trust” is most important for news providers, said Khalidi.
“And for all these years my colleagues have been doing a wonderful job in ensuring that millions of our readers, listeners and viewers remain loyal to our brand of journalism.”
“We also take pride in the fact that hundreds, if not thousands, of news outlets followed in our footsteps, emulating the business model that we began moulding in 2006.”
