Nicknamed the "Fire Hose" for its colourful appearance and undiplomatic journalistic style, it is often regarded as a source of record, meaning that it is frequently relied upon as the official and authoritative reference for modern events.

[1] The Founding Team included: Editor: Barun Roy Sub-editors: Subash Sthapit (Subash Sthapit later went on to become the Finance Manager of Beacon Publications which published the Magazine)and Raju Biswas (Raju Biswas later went up to be the Advertisement Manager) Advertisement Manager: Vikash Agarwal Marketing Executives: Nishan Chettri and Amina Fareedi Reporters: Prateeq Ojha, Asif Iqbal, Prashan Rai The magazine was originally published every 15th of the Month until April 1998.

The paper's growing influence was seen during its very initial publication when in Jan-August 1998 a series of Beacon exposés targeting Bengal and the Local Administration ended the Government apathy over the retired workers of the Sidrapong Hydel Power Station.

While some of the articles like Problems Unsolved[2] ultimately forced the West Bengal State Government to pay up all the payments that it had been holding for almost 25 years from the workers of the Historic Hydel Electric Project at Sidrapong, Darjeeling - articles like China’s claim on Indian Territory lead to major diplomatic scuffle between India and China which took years to heal.

The "I am not seeking independence…", from the Dalai Lama in the June 1998 issue of Beacon led to a major shift in the Foreign Policy of numerous Government all over the world, including India’s.