Prothom Alo facts for kids

Prothom Alo (which means "First Light") is a very popular daily newspaper in Bangladesh. It's printed in the Bengali language from Dhaka. Lots of people read it! In 2014, over 4.3 million people read the paper every day. Its website is also super popular, being the most visited Bangladeshi and Bengali website globally. Prothom Alo first started on November 4, 1998.

The Story of Prothom Alo

Prothom Alo began its journey on November 4, 1998. This newspaper became well-known for looking into important issues. For example, it investigated violence against women and pushed for stronger rules about selling harmful chemicals. This helped make things safer for people.

Every day, about 500,000 copies of the newspaper are printed. They are sent out from printing places in Dhaka, Chittagong, and Bogra. In 2012, around 5.1 million people read the printed newspaper daily. Many people in Bangladesh think Prothom Alo is a very important and trusted newspaper.

Prothom Alo Online

Prothom Alo is also very big online! Its website, www.prothom-alo.com, is the most popular Bangladeshi website in the world. About 1.6 million people from over 200 countries visit this website every month. They look at more than 60 million pages!

Prothom Alo also has an e-paper website, www.eprothomalo.com. This is the top e-paper site in Bangladesh. Around 465,000 people from 160 countries visit this site each month. They view over 26 million pages!

Other Parts of Prothom Alo

Prothom Alo is part of a company called Mediastar Ltd. This company also has other businesses that work with the newspaper. These are:

• ABC Radio FM 89.2
• Prothoma Prokashon (a publishing house)
• Protichinta (a magazine)
• Kishor Alo (a magazine for young people)
• Biggan Chinta (a science magazine)
• Chakri.com (which used to be called Prothom Alo Jobs, a job search website)

Challenges and Discussions

Sometimes, Prothom Alo has faced discussions or disagreements. Once, a cartoon was published in a special section called Alpin. This cartoon caused some protests. The government then ordered that this special section be stopped for a while. The editor of Prothom Alo said sorry for the mistake. The cartoonist was held for a few months but was later released.

In 2012, a court order briefly stopped the newspaper from publishing a story by the famous writer Humayun Ahmed. The story was called Deyal.

Images for kids

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  Front page of Prothom Alo on 11 June 2012

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  Matiur Rahman, the editor of Prothom Alo

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  Meril-Prothom Alo Award Giving Ceremony, Bangabndhu International Conference Centre (BICC)