Pattern of Information Disseminated by News Portals Regarding COVID-19 Pandemic in Guwahati

With the advent of digital network, news portals of regional media are gaining momentum. These portals started gaining popularity through its social media connects like Facebook and Instagram earning good reach of followers. In this global pandemic, the e-portals have been very active in disseminating information related to COVID-19 in the region through its websites and Facebook pages. This study is aimed to understand the impact of the news circulated by two news portals of Assam namely, G-Plus (English) and Pratidin Time (Assamese) among the masses. It focuses to examine the extent to which people of Assam had been influenced by the information forwarded by these portals. To conduct this study, contents regarding the pandemic situation in the region dispersed by these two e-portals were analyzed for the month of September 2020. The study intended to analyze and differentiate the impact of news related to COVID-19 by examining the responses of the audience both these e-portals. The results of the study show that news circulated by these e-portals has impacted the minds of people in both positive and negative ways