INDIAN PRESS HISTORY

Under British Rule

- Bengal Gazette (English weekly) published by James Augustus Hicky in 1780 Jan 29th from Calcutta. It was the first news paper in South Asian sub- continent

- Bengal Gazette alias ‘Hicky Gazette’, ‘Calcutta General Advertiser’

- Declaration ‘a weekly political and commercial paper open to all but influenced by none’

- Hicky had his own column, many persons wrote by pen names.

- Bengal Gazette could not survive more than two years due to sharp confrontation with Governer General Warren Hastings and Chief Justice Elijah Impey.

- Indian Gazette as a rival to Bengal Gazette, published in the same year (1780) by Peter Read, a salt agent (backing by Hastings).

- After Bengal Gazette, other publications from India were- Madras Courier weekly (1785), Bombay Herald weekly (1789) merged into Bombay Gazette in 1791, Hurukaru weekly (1793), Calcutta Chronicle (1818), Bengal Journal, Indian world, Bengal Harkarer etc.

- In the early period newspapers in India were run by Britishers.


RUDYARD KIPLING

A renowned man of the pen – born in Bombay – his father, a British citizen was a government officer in India – Rudyard joined Civil and Military Gazette (Lahore) in 1872 at the age of 17- worked for five years in Gazette- then moved to the Pioneer- his writings specially monologue and fictions were very impressive- ‘writing and every thing associated with, is a glorious fun’, ‘I love both the fun and riot of writing’- after suffering from malaria he was compelled to left India and went to England in1890- he served about 7 years in India as a journalist- he is still remembered as a creative journalist in the history of Indian journalism- reflections of his Indian experience can be seen in his several writings.

Indian’s involvement in publication

- Raja Ram Mohan Roy, the pioneer Indian journalist and social reformer

- By his inspiration Gangadhar Bhattacharjee published Bengal Gazette (1816),
the first Indian owned English daily newspaper, but could not survive long

- Raja’s own publications- Sambad Kaumudi (Bengali 1821), Mirut ul Akhbar (Persian 1822) and Brahminical Magazine (English 1822)

- Press Regulation –1823 imposed by British govt. in India to control newspapers.

- The regulation was used as a tool to deport James Silk Buckingham, Editor of Calcutta Chronicle.

- Raja presented a petition to Supreme Court to protest the regulation in favour of J.S. Buckingham.

- It was his bold step for the preservation of press freedom, however he defeated the case.


- Anti reformists Hindu fundamentalists published Samachar Chandrika weekly to challenge Raja’s social reforms.

- Raja passed away in 1833

- 1857 Mutiny (the first war of Indian independence) was a turning point to Indian journalism.

- In the issue of mutiny, British owned press and Indian owned press blamed each other in the lowest level.

- British owned press acted like blood mongers of Indians.

- This event worked as a fuel to Indian owned press against the British rule in India.

- Pioneers Indian journalists on those days- Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Gangadhar Bhattacharjee, Bhawani Charan Bannerjee, Dwarkanath Tagore, Girish Chandra Ghose, Harischandra Mukharjee, Ishworchandra Vidyasagar, Kristo Pal, Manmohan Ghose, Keshub Chander Sen etc.

- Other major publications by Indians- The Reformer, Enquirer, Gyan Auneshun, Bengal Herald, Bang Doot, Hindu Patriot, Indian Mirror, Sulab Samachar, etc.




After Mutiny

- Standard, The Bombay Times and Telegraph merged into Times of India in 1861, Robert Knight was the owner , he was also owner of Statesman daily (1875) from Calcutta, Indian Economist monthly and Agriculture Gazette of India, his editorials and writings were balanced and impressive.

- Other major publications- Indu Prakash weekly, Gyan Prakash, Lokhitavadi (all 1861), Amrit Bazar Patrika (1868 Cacutta), Pioneer (1872 Allahbad), The Hindu (1878 Chennai) , Keshari (marathi) and The Maratha (English) (both in1878 from Pune by veteran freedom fighter Balgangadhar Tilak)

- Pioneer Indian Journalists- Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Mahadev Govinda Ranade, Dadabhoi Naoroji, Gopal Rao Hari Deshmukh, Vishu Shastri Pandit, Karsondas Mulji, Bal Sashtri Jambhekar etc.

- British govt. enacted Vernacular Press Act-1878 to suppress Indian language newspapers

- Indian National Congress (INC) founded in 1885.

- It was led by many nationalists like Surendranath Banerjee, Balgangadhar Tilak, Dadabhoi Naoroji, Motilal Gosh, Bipin Chandra Pal, G. Subramania Aiyer, etc., who were active journalists too.

- After establishment of INC, Indian press became an important part of struggle for independence.

Leading Newspapers After Establishment of INC

-1900- Bangalee English Daily (ed)- Surendranath Banarjee

-1901- New India English Weekly (ew)- Bipinchandra Pal

- 1901- Bande Mataram – Bengalee weekly- Bipinchandra Pal

- 1906- Yugantar – Bengali daily- Barendra kumar Ghose

- 1909- Leader- ed- Madan Mohan Malviya

- 1913- New India –ed- Annie Besant

- 1913- Bombay Chronicle –ed- Phiroj Shah Mehata


- 1918 –Justice- ed- Dr.T.M.Nair (published by non- Brahmin movement in Madras)

- 1918 – Searchlight- English biweekly- Shachindranath Sinha

-1919- The Independent -ed– Pandit Motilal Neharu

- 1919- Young India – ed- Mahatma Gandhi

- 1920 – Nav Jeevan – Gujarati weeky- Mahatma Gandhi

- 1922- Swarajya- ed- T.Prakasham

- 1923- Forward- ed- Chittaranjan Das

- 1923- The Hindustan Times –ed- K.M. Panikar (first daily in Delhi)

- 1929- Liberty-ed- Subhas Chandra Bose

-1932- Harijan- Gujarati weekly- Mahatma Gandhi

- 1938- National Herald- Jawaharlal Neharu

- Viceroy Lord Curzon Vs. Indian press

- In 1907 series of arrests and prosecutions against the journalists and press

- India Press Act –1910 asked for heavy security deposits

- 963 publications and press were prosecuted under the act

- 173 new printing press and 129 newspapers were killed at their birth by the weapon of security deposits

- British govt. collected about 5 lakhs Indian Rs. in the first year of the act enforcement

- During the First world war (1914-1918) Indian press were divided.

- The act was forcely executed against the press who were not in support of British side in the world war.

- In 1919 Jaliawala Bagh massacre was a big disaster to the Indian press.

- Even the Anglo- Indian press were not escaped.

The Golden Era of Indian Mission Journalism (1920 – 1947)

- Declaration of non-cooperation movement against British rule in India.

- Press marched shoulder to shoulder with satyagrahis.

- Mahatma Gandhi lauded for freedom of expression, ideas and people’s sentiments

- Gandhi would not accept adv., he believed newspapers should survive on the revenue from subscribers

- He would not accept any restrictions on the paper, he rather close it down

- His writings were widely circulated and reproduced in the newspapers all over the country

- A big challenge to non-Gandhian newspapers.

- Gandhi declared ‘Salt Satyagraha’ in 1930

- The nationalist press played a memorable role, which perhaps is unique in the history of any freedom movement.

- Press ordinance issued in 1930 to suppress Indian press through heavy security deposits.

- When second world war broke out , British rulers became more suppressive to the Indian press

- In 1940 UP government directed the press to submit the headlines of the news to the secretary of the information department for his pre- approval

- In response to this, National Herald (newspaper run by Jawaharlal Neharu) published the news without headlines

- Second world war and freedom fight gave more fuel to Indian press

- Britishers charged them as ‘ pro-Hitler’

- All India Newspaper Editors Conference held in 1940 at Delhi voiced against the suppressive attitude of the British govt.

- Fresh suppression and struggle started from 1942 when Quit India Movement initiated

- Many press, publications and journalists including Neharu suspended and arrested in1942

- It continued until the declaration of independence in1947 August

- K. Rama Rao, Editor, Swarajya “ It was more than a vocation, it was a mission and the newspaper was a noble enterprise working for patriotic purpose”.



1947 Onwards

- India received independence from British rule on 1947 August 15th

- The press celebrated the independence, because it was their victory too.

- At the beginning of independence the relation between the national govt. and press was good, but a year after situation was changed

- P. M. Neharu, Sardar Ballav Bhai Patel, etc. were not happy with the press.

- Press Commission- 1952, report- 1954

- Recommendations – Press Council, press registrar, minimum basic salary for working journalists, strengthen the role of the editors

- The working journalist act-1955

- The newspaper (price and page) act- 1956

- Press Council established – 1965

- P.M. Mrs. Indira Gandhi declared state of emergency on 1975 June

- It was a shocking blow to the freedom of press

- Ignored the press freedom guaranteed by article 19 (1) in the constitution

- Heavy censorship during the emergency period under Defence Rule “ in order to maintain public order…”

- 1975 Dec 8th ordinance banned the publication of all ‘ objectionable matter’, no permission to report parliament, close down Press Council , blaming it was failed to curb provocative writings

- During 19 months of emergency 253 journalists detained and 7 foreign correspondence expelled

- When Janata Dal came into power, all the restrictions over press were removed

- After emergency Indian press became more professional along with high tech., simultaneous publications increased, tremendous change in the contents, more supplements, booming of specialized magazines

- Press Council re- established under new act- 28 member, chaired by retired judge of high court


According to UNESCO

Top circulation –

The Times of India – approx. 18 lakh copies / day

The Indian Express – approx. 15 lakh copies / day

Total no. of all publications – approx. 40 thousand
Out of them dailies- 4,453 (including 320 English dailies)
NOTE : Circulation information may differ in changing situation.

CENTENARIAN NEWSPAPERS OF INDIA
The Times of India – 1861
Amrit Bazar Patrika – 1868
Pioneer - 1872
The Statesman - 1875
The Hindu - 1878

RADIO

- Amateur Radio Club started local broadcasting in 1924 at Madras

- Indian Broadcasting co.(private) 1927- Bombay and Calcutta

- Indian State Broadcasting Service – 1930

- Name changed as All India Radio (AIR) / Aakashbani

- Before independence AIR stations in Hyderabad, Baroda, Mysore, Trivandrum, Aurangabad, Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta, Madras, Lukhnow, Pesawar and Dhaka

- During second World War radio became more popular in India

- After independence AIR was a major tool to dissiminate govt. information

- AIR as an ‘ electronic ambassador’ in abroad

- Now AIR have more than 200 stations covering 90% of the land and 97% of the population

- News in 24 languages including Hindi, English and many other languages of India

- From 1997 broadcasting is beeing regulated by an autonomous corporation under Prasar Bharati Act

- 12 radio sets / 100 people


TELEVISION


- Door Darshan (DD) started as an experiment in 1959 from New Delhi, for educational purpose

- Regular broadcasting started from 1965 from New Delhi

- Indian Space Research Organization borrowed a satellite from NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) in 1975

- Community TV sets in 2,400 villages

- Colour broadcasting from 1982 on the eve of Asian Games held in New Delhi

- 40 different broadcasting centers

- covers 70% of land and 87% 0f population

- programs in about a dozen languages

- 6.5 tv sets / 100 people

- after 1995 many private channels

- all TV broadcasting regulated by Prasar Bharati Act

NEWS AGENCY

- Press Trust of India (PTI) 1947

- Hindustan Samachar 1948

- United News of India (UNI)- 1961

- Samachar Bharati –1965

Hindustan Samachar and Samachar Bharati produce news in various Indian languages while PTI and UNI in English

- Press Information Bureau (PBI), under Ministry of Information, provides government news and information in English, Hindi, Urdu and 13 regional languages.