Hamant Verma, 27, has been at the helm of Britain's most popular Asian newspaper, the Eastern Eye, as editor for the past two years. Despite stiff competition from new contenders in the market, Eastern Eye has continued to deliver record readership figures. We caught up with Eastern Eye's Hamant Verma to find out the secret behind the successful journey.

When did you join Eastern Eye?
I was the Arts Editor at my university magazine in Leicester and later trained as a journalist at Editorial Centre in Hastings. My first proper job was at North West London Newspaper, where I gained a promotion to chief reporter for its southern newspapers, which covered Westminster, Kensington and Hammersmith. I thought that a short stint at Eastern Eye would give me some experience of working at a national newspaper. Little did I expect that within six months, the old gaffer would jump to London Evening Standard. After a two month trial, I was officially named editor in Nov 2005.

You have achieved quite a lot at the age of 27 as Editor of Britain's most popular Asian newspaper, how does that feel?
It is bitter-sweet feeling, to be frank. Yes, I am confident in my ability as a journalist and an editor; yes, I have learnt to manage people in a high-pressure working environment; Yes, I have made many good contacts while bringing out a popular newspaper. But the whole newspaper industry, from The Telegraph to The Voice, is in decline because of 24 hour news on TV and radio, and a greater competition for advertising revenue from rival media. It makes for an uncertain future for people associated with newspapers. While I think that newspaper reporters are more savvy and robust than broadcast journalists, if a school kid told me that he wanted to be a journalist when he grows up, I would tell him to undertake a broadcasting training course rather than a print media one.

Where would you position the Eastern Eye in terms of market share?
We are Number 1 in the print media market by a mile: Eastern Eye is one of the most famous and one of the most popular ethnic newspapers in the country. I have people from the mainstream media call me most weeks to follow up on our stories, I have PR firms that call me for advice about Asian media in general and my profile as editor has enabled me to carve out a side career as a commentator on British Asian issues. I don't think that my rivals experience much of the above.

Generally speaking, the lack of a British Asian broadsheet newspaper is a pity because it means that a lot of interesting facets of our culture go unreported. Because Eastern Eye is the only British Asian newspaper, people expect us to cover everything - which is ridiculous because we are a tabloid.

You would not criticise The Sun or The Mirror for failing to cover the latest show at English National Opera, for example. At the end of the day, we are not stopping anybody from publishing a broadsheet if they think there is a market for one.

If you were to describe the Eastern Eye in one word, how would you define it? Also what genre would you place it under?
A newspaper -and a punchy one at that.

With the competition within print media so competitive these days, how do you make sure your stories remain different to what else is out there?
You need to take the best of the past and improve on it. To me that has meant building on the good show-business stuff that has always sold the paper while trying to make the paper more punchy by publishing original news and sports stories that put race on the agenda. That is why my paper backed the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority's proposal for the British Empire to be taught as a compulsory subject in schools, why it campaigned on behalf of doctors and highly-skilled workers who have suffered because of sudden changes to immigration rules and why it was the first Asian media to write about tension between Blacks and Asians in Reading, unrestrained racism in idyllic Worcester and the impact of changes to legal aid.

In fact, a greater emphasis on news has enabled us to build up the contacts to break some good stories in the past six months. I have also given my columnists greater freedom to slag-off whoever they like to make sure that the paper is still talked about. It is a little frustrating that this attempt to toughen the paper editorially has come at the same time as the company has slimmed its pagination (number of pages) and cut back on marketing. But there is no point having a hissy fit about it, because, to be fair, that process is going on at most newspapers around the country.

Who would you regard as your closest competitor and why?
What has hurt Eastern Eye over the years has been the vastness and penetration of TV channels from the Subcontinent, many of which can give viewers South Asian news, sport and all that la-di-da showbiz stuff 24 hours a day. I am sure we have lost some younger readers to the web, but far too much is made of the web's impact; After all, how many people working in take-ways or aunties do you know that rush home to log on to The Mail's website or to read some boy's or girl's blog? Not many. TV is the real pain in the arse, as far as I am concerned. When it comes to ethnic media in general – including us- I don't think its publications, radio stations or TV channels have anywhere near the resources that their mainstream media rivals have. This does not mean that ethnic media companies are badly run or unimportant, it just means that it is unfair to compare them to the mainstream media because there ain’t no Asian Murdoch.

If its bosses could find more investment, Eastern Voice could effectively become an Eastern Eye for the Midlands - and enjoy a reasonable readership and regional advertising revenue for a while. The British Asian Hafta's showed the potential for an Asian paper specifically for Midlands. As it is today, I think Eastern Eye is miles ahead of it.

Eastern Eye is a national paper with a Scotland version doing really well too, have you got plans to localize the paper so it covers Asian news stories for other regions?
Considering how tiny the budget is for Eastern Eye Scotland, the fact that 10,000 people pick it up for free every week north of the border, should make it one of the great newspaper success stories of all time! I am not aware of any plans to regionalize the newspaper further.

Major news channels tend to heavily publicise "sensational" and "showbiz" stories to appeal to a wider audience, would you at Eastern Eye choose showbiz over a serious story as a front cover headline to boost readership?
I think you can do both. A couple of weeks ago, we were the first to write about a campaign to tackle rogue British travel agents who dupe Hajj pilgrims. We carried a sizable flag-up about rumors of a number of Back To The Future Bollywood remakes and another flag-up of an interview with the latest actor from the Kapoor family. For me, that made an ideal front page.

What do you think has been your biggest news scoop while Editor of the paper?
We have lifted the lid on many facets of British Asian life in my time as editor. Most weeks we have had original stories on the front page and inside pages.

In terms of the most satisfying story, we were the first British media to expose the plight of Mirza Tahir Hussain. I think that we were the first British Asian media to interview him while on death row in a Pakistani jail. The BBC, Sunrise Radio and other papers including The Mirror and The Independent followed up our original story and this united media condemnation of Mirza's death sentence helped to save his life.

On a cheeky level, I have to say that being named one of the most eligible British Asian bachelors 2007 in one of Asian Woman's magazine was a great personal scoop because I am not particularly good looking, to say the least (lol).

During your time at the Eastern Eye, which story has generated the most negative response?
I received a lot of criticism about our coverage of the Lozells riots. Some in the media felt that our angle, that the riot was an excuse for blacks to vent their jealousy at Asians' relative economic and educational success, was racist. My view was that the angle reflected the views of British Asians in Birmingham and some of the sentiment expressed privately by Asian commentators and politicians in that city. I tried to ' keep it real'. Frankly, my readers would have lost respect for us if we didn't 'keep it real'.

Have you got plans to launch the entertainment supplement E-Guide as a separate entity?
It is well known that many Eastern Eye readers were lost when the glossy E-Mag was phased out in 2003, so I would be delighted to see the magazine back.

Are there any plans to venture into other types of publications such as magazines?
No.

Where do you see the Eastern Eye in a year from now?
Our website will improve. I would expect our Success Magazine to continue to evolve to include more industries and our Asian Business Awards to maintain its position as the No1 British Asian awards ceremony. Perhaps the pagination will fall - but Eastern Eye will always attract enough talented editorial and sales staff to maintain its position as the most important Asian publication in Britain.

Personally, what makes me happy is the ability to put out a newspaper that is good looking and makes good reading. When that is no longer possible, I would say 'thank you' to my bosses and seek a new challenge, be it as a journalist in the mainstream or editing a different newspaper or magazine in Asian media.