A Telegram bot is a software application that runs on the Telegram platform and interacts with users through the Telegram messaging app. Bots are programmed to perform various tasks and automatically respond to user commands or messages. They act as virtual assistants, providing Telegram users with information, services, and entertainment. In this blog we will emphasize on the process to web scrape BBC Amharic news using Python and then transferring the data to the Telegram bot.

Telegram bots are created and managed using the Telegram Bot API provided by Telegram. Bot developers can create custom bots with specific functionalities tailored to their needs. These bots are integrated into groups and channels or used in one-on-one chats with users.

Telegram bots have a wide range of uses, such as:

Information retrieval: Telegram bots have a wide range of uses, such as:

Automation: Bots can automate repetitive tasks, saving users time and effort. For example, they can schedule reminders, manage to-do lists, or automatically respond to specific messages.

Customer support: Businesses often use bots to answer frequently asked questions and handle simple queries.

Entertainment: Bots can entertain users with games, quizzes, or interactive stories.

Language translation: Bots can translate text or even entire conversations between languages.

Finance: Some bots provide financial services like currency exchange rates or cryptocurrency price updates.

Developers can create Telegram bots using various programming languages, and Telegram provides API methods that allow developers to interact with the bot and the Telegram platform. Bots can receive updates from Telegram when users send messages, join groups, or interact with them. News data Scraper can then process these updates and respond accordingly.

This Python script aims to perform two main tasks: scraping news content from the BBC Amharic website and forwarding it to a designated Telegram channel using the Telegram Bot API. Firstly, it imports the necessary libraries, including requests, BeautifulSoup, and Telegram. The script then defines the target URL of the BBC Amharic website and sends an HTTP request to retrieve the HTML content. Using BeautifulSoup, it parses the HTML to extract the news headlines from the webpage. Next, it initializes the Telegram Bot API with the provided bot token and specifies the Telegram channel where the news is available.

Finally, to web scrape BBC.com/Amharic using Python, it iterates through the extracted headlines and sends each as a separate message to the specified Telegram channel. This automated process allows users to stay up-to-date with the latest BBC Amharic news through their Telegram channel effortlessly.

Importing Libraries

• requests: Used to make HTTP requests and fetch the website’s content.
• BeautifulSoup: Employed for parsing and navigating the HTML content obtained from the website.
• asyncio: Facilitates running asynchronous tasks, primarily for sending messages to Telegram.

The script for web scraping bbc.com includes the following libraries:

Requests: This library makes HTTP requests and retrieves the website’s content.

BeautifulSoup: It is imported to parse and navigate the HTML content obtained from the website.

asyncio: This library runs asynchronous tasks, mainly for efficient message sending to Telegram.

Define Telegram Bot and Chat ID: The variables bot_token and chat_id specify the Telegram Bot token and the destination chat/channel ID where the scraped news is forwarded.

To create a new bot, users can interact with the “BotFather” on Telegram, a particular bot provided by Telegram that helps set up and manage bots. After the bot creation, developers assign a unique API token to authenticate their interactions with the Telegram API and scrape news from BBC.COM.

Telegram bots are widely used and have become an essential part of the Telegram ecosystem, providing a versatile and interactive experience for users and developers helpful in extracting BBC Amharic news.

The send_to_telegram function is an asynchronous function responsible for sending a message and an image URL to the designated Telegram channel using the Telegram Bot API. It achieves this by utilizing the requests.post method to make a POST request to the Telegram API’s sendPhoto endpoint.

The function of scrape_bbc_amharic helps extract news content from the BBC Amharic website. It achieves this by utilizing the requests.get method to fetch the HTML content of the website. The BeautifulSoup library is then employed to parse and navigate the HTML, extracting relevant data such as headings, paragraphs, and image URLs. The extracted information returns as a list of tuples, having each tuple containing the news message and its corresponding image URL.

In the central part of the script:

The website_url variable is assigned the URL of the BBC Amharic website.

The scrape_bbc_amharic function extracts the news messages and image URLs from the website.

If messages (news content) are available, the script proceeds to send each message and its corresponding image URL to the designated Telegram channel using the asyncio.function. This asynchronous approach enables the script to continue with other tasks while awaiting the API response for efficient message sending.

The output of the script is as follows:

If the script successfully sends the message to the Telegram channel, it prints “Message sent successfully!” for each message.

If there is an error in sending the message, it prints the error message indicating the cause of the failure.

  

Important considerations to run this script successfully:

Valid Telegram Bot Token and Chat ID: Before executing the script, ensure you have a valid Telegram bot token and the correct chat ID with the required permissions to send messages to the designated chat/channel.

HTML Structure Dependency: It’s crucial to be aware that this script relies on the specific HTML structure of the BBC Amharic website for successful scraping. Any changes to the website’s structure may disrupt the scraping functionality, necessitating adjustments to the script.

Respect Website Policies: While working with Telegram Data Scraping Services, abide by the website’s terms of use and policies when scraping data. Ensure you can access and use the website’s content for your intended purpose.

By adhering to these considerations, you can effectively run the script and avoid potential issues or violations while scraping news content and forwarding it to your Telegram channel.