History of Newspapers in India

Pre-Independence Press
The Beginning: The Press has had its fair share of
trials and tribulations in its evolution in India. The
first weekly print venture‘ Bengal Gazette’ was
started by James Augustus Hickey on 29 January
1780. His newspaper primarily published
slanderous news against the East India Company,
especially against the Governor-General, Warren
Hastings in the garb of freedom of expression.
Soon some more newspapers began to be
published in Calcutta, Madras and Bombay. In
Madras the first newspaper, Madras Courier
appeared in 1785 and four years later Bombay’s
first newspaper, Bombay Herald was published.
Print Media in India
Evolution of Mass Media As these newspapers
largely catered to British residents and reported
about activities of the East India Company, their
circulation was small. Press laws did not exist and
publishers were not free to print news as per their
discretion. There were some innovations such as
letter to the editors, advertisements as well as
reporting on fashion and social issues.
Press during Freedom Struggle
The first half of the nineteenth century was
characterised by proliferation of newspapers,
especially in Indian languages. These papers put
up a resistance against strict and unfair
government regulations.
Many Indian elites also became editors and
publishers in different parts of the country. Their
circulation was till in thousands only still these
newspapers became vehicles of social reforms,
information, contacts and social awakening. It was
believed that keeping an eye on the language
newspapers could have revealed about the
rebellion and appropriate measures could have
been taken.
Raja Rammohan Roy, the social reformer,
journalist and freedom fighter from Bengal started
the Calcutta Journal and followed it up with
Sambad Kaumudi (1821) and Mirat-Ul-Akhbar.
The first Hindi language newspaper, Uddant
Martand was published by Pt. Jugal Kishore
Shukla on a weekly basis in the year 1826.
Printing presses were sealed, newsprint was seized
and many editors were jailed. The period after the
first struggle for independence called for more
strict regulations for the Indian language press.
There was significant expansion in the nationalist
press near the end of the 19th century. TheMarathi
weekly Kesari and English weekly Mahratta were
brought out byBal Gangadhar Tilak in 1880.
Tilak was a not just a nationalist but also a true
social reformer. He stressed that newspapers
should expose social conditions that need to be
improved. For him, the newspaper was also a
means of political emancipation.
Mathur (2013) wrote that the anger and unrest
against the British was at its peak in the early part
of the 20th century. The powerful writings by
Mahatma Gandhi also influenced the public.
Young India and Harijan were able to a mass huge
readership and become vehicles of freedom
struggle. He wrote with conviction and passion.
His writings were simple, clear and powerful.
Gandhi Ji published the newspapers to arouse
feelings for ‘Swaraj’ as well as offer a platform to
express the feelings of the people.
Gandhi Ji is known as a prolific journalist who
could sway public opinion through his writings.
This can be understood easily by the fact that even
though his news papers did not accept
advertisements, they could survive through
subscriptions. They became instruments for
spreading his ideas amongst the public. His stand
on the national movement was very well
represented through his writings. Therefore, his
newspapers garnered good readership.
Many popular leaders of the time took a cue from
Gandhi Ji and took up journalism as a means to
reach out to the people. They joined the fray as
editors and publishers. With their missionary zeal,
they used their weeklies or dailies for social
reform, education and national awakening. The
journalism of this era was known for its
missionary zeal towards the cause of Indian
independence (Mathur, 2013).
In the hands of Gandhi, Nehru, Tilak and many
others, these newspapers became instruments of
freedom struggle against the British rule in India.
Press in Independent India
An all pervasive euphoria prevailed after
Independence marking the end of foreign rule after
a long and arduous freedom struggle. The press
was no exception. There was great enthusiasm to
express national urges and aspirations, and to build
a strong independent India. The press was part of,
and at the same time, vehicle of such urges and
aspirations. The press was supposed to play a part
in nation building and support the development
efforts by the government. In fact, such was the
importance placed on the press, that it came to be
called as the fourth estate- the first three being the
Legislature, Executive and the Judiciary
The first Prime Minister, Jawahar Lal Nehru, also
contributed a lot towards development of the press.
He pressed for a free and fair press. He had
famously remarked that, “I would rather have a
completely free Press, with all dangers involved in
the wrong use of that freedom than a suppressed or
regulated Press”. As a result, the Press was
significantly deregulated after India gained
independence.
Thus, the Press in India is free, vibrant and
vigilant. It fearlessly exposes the wrongs in our
society and polity. It zealously guards its own
freedom and brooks no restrictions or regulations
from the government.
The Indian press is largely in private hands and is
commercial enterprise from the days of its
pioneers. Numerically individual ownership
accounts for majority of the newspaper titles but
their circulation is limited. On the other hand,
small number of companies (about 75) own major
daily newspapers with multi editions and magazine
accounting for over 80 per cent of the circulation.
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Mission to Profession
Indian independence brought along changes in the
role of the press. Earlier, they were connecting
popular leaders to the public by acting as a ‘views-
paper’ and helped them in gaining support for their
initiatives. It became a powerful instrument of
freedom struggle. This changed after independence
as the reverence for leaders gave way to a more
watchful attitude about their decisions. Although
the popularity of the leaders continued unabated as
they had formed a bond with the masses during the
course of the struggle, the press quickly adopted
the role of a watchdog.
However, government felt a need to regulate the
newspaper industry post independence. Therefore,
First Press Commission of India was constituted in
1952to help newspapers maintain their
independence, raise the standards through a code
of conduct and maintain high professional
standards as well as high standards of public taste.
On the basis of their recommendations, the Press
Council Act, 1965 was passed and the Press
Council of India was established in 1966.
Gradually, strict regulations for press resulted into
the new trend of‘ hand-out’ journalism where
report age was restricted to official version of
event handed out for publication. There wasn’t
much scope for critical analysis of the action s of
the government even as political rivals received
newspaper coverage. Nehru paid
attentiontothecriticaleditorialsandcartoonsevenwhe
ntheywerecriticalofhim. However, the press was
refrained from publishing any major expose during
his time with the exception of the Indo-China war
in1962.
Print Media in India
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Evolution of Mass Media The press bitterly criticized
Nehru’s defence preparedness and Krishna Menon, the
then Defence Minister, became the first major victim of
the press attack in free India (Mathur, 2013). 6.5.5
Emergency period: A Dark Chapter
In subsequent years, things changed rather drastically.
The press was not as kind to Indira Gandhi, who
dominated the Indian political scene for nearly18 years, as
it was to Nehru. She viewed the press with guile and
suspicion. Such a mutual distrust led to the press taking
up the adversary role vigorously and the rulers using both
carrot and sticks to tame the press failing that imposed
national emergency and censorship on the press in1975
which lasted for about one and a half year. That the
“journalists crawled when they were merely asked to
bend” is a sad commentary on the profession as a whole
during emergency days. With the end ofemergencyand
lifting ofcensorship in1977 gave boost to growthof the
press inIndia, especiallythe news magazines.As a result,
the Second press commissionwas constituted in1978 that
stresseduponbuilding cordialrelations among government
and the press.
ExposingthefailuresoftheGovernment
andthoseinpubliclifeisanage-oldand well recognised
function of the press. It is true of the Indian press as well.
However,withtheexposureoftheBhagalpurblindingcaseinS
unday, theEnglish weekly in 1979 resulting in the public
uproar, began a new phase in Indian journalism. Some
public-spirited lawyers took up the case with the Supreme
Court giving a new turn to the watchdog function ofthe
press. Since thenthe investigative journalisminIndia has
covered manymilestonesand inthe process manymisdeeds
ofindividualsandthegovernments havecometo the
publiclight.
As a consequence, the conflict between libertarian
philosophy and social
responsibilitytheoryofthepress,whichtogetherguidedandm
oldedthefunctioning of the press in India over the years, is
now becoming sharper. There is no denying the fact that
journalism as a professionhas come ofage inIndia. From
being a mission, it has graduated into being a competitive
and market-driven industry.
Promotionandhardsellinghavebecomenecessary.
Skillsandstrategies
ofsellingnewsandnewspapershavebecomeessential.
Catchyheadlines,attractive layout are necessary for sale
and promotion some time even at the cost the ‘contents’
the main substance of the press - the news.
In1980sand1990stherevolutionincommunicationtechnolo
giesandopeningof
Indianeconomywithliberalisationandglobalisationtransfor
medthepressinIndia
rapidly.Computerisation,enormouslyimprovedtelecommu
nicationservices,satellite, mobile phones, latest printing
technologies, digital cameras all contributed to
introduction of colour and the rapid expansion of the
press in the country. Simultaneously, the perception
about press changed. Press came to be viewed as an
industry and a business and the newspaper as a product
to be marketed and sold just as anyother product like
soaps and toothpastes. The proprietors ofmanya
newspapersandmagazinesstartedgiving preferenceto
advertisersand
marketersovertheeditorsandnewsreporters.Theinstitution
oftheeditordeclined.
Be that as it may, newspaper is more than a product to be
marketed and sold to consumers. It affects minds,
thoughts, values and culture ofthe readers. So, it is
muchmore thanbeing a product
thougheconomicviabilityofnewspaper is essentialand
profit making is also legitimate as it is a
commercialactivity.
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6.5.6 Present Era
This was also a period ofrapid technologicaladvancements
helpinginfirst hand news gathering fromdistant places
including remote areas with speed or simply
downloadingfromtheinternet services, transmitting,
editing, colour printing and deliveringthefinalproduct-
tothereadersalloverthecountry.Theresult ismulti- editions
of major newspapers, special supplements,
segmentations and zoning giving rise to regionaland
district news editions.
The increasedcapacityto handle large amount
ofnewsdailymade it possible for newspapers to take
uponsome of the features of magazine journalism as well.
Consequently,someofthenewsmagazineswerecloseddown
like,TheIllustrated Weekly of India, Dharumyug, Sunday
etc;whilemanyspecialinterest magazines like Business
India, Business World and Business Today; film magazines
like, Filmfare , Stardust, Cine Blitz; computer and
technology magazines like Computers Today and
Telematics; became more popular. To meet the growing
interest in economic developments and the market, most
dailynewspapers both English and other Indian languages,
added special business sections. Not only that thenumber
ofexclusive businessandeconomic dailiesincreasedand
became popular.
The coming of many 24x7 television news channels posed
some threats to newspaper industrybut soon it adjusted
to new environment. Television news channels mayhave
become the prime sources of hot spot news and breaking
of news stories, the newspapers continue to be the
providers of the details of the newsstoriesand analysis.
The newspapersstarted givingmore featuresandsoft
newsstoriesandphotofeaturesandwhat
ispopularlyknownasPage-3journalism came into vogue. It
would not be wrong to saythat television news is like the
appetizer and newspapers are like the main menus for
satisfying the hunger to know as to what is happening
dailyin the world around us. 6.5.7 Contemporary
Challenges
Today,
thepressisaccusedofindulginginpaidnewswhichmeanspubli
shingpaid features or news articles in exchange for
money. These are different from
advertisementssincetheylooklikenormalnewsfeatures.This
isanethicalviolation as readers maynot be able to
differentiate betweennews and paid news. Other key
issues the press faces today are violation of the Majithia
wage board recommendations on salaries ofworking
journalists, poor ethical standards and spreadingyellow
journalismor sensationalstories. However, not allchanges
are bad.
Newexperimentshaveaddedcolourandmadenewspapersm
oreinteresting. Thenewspaper apps ande-papers have
allowed people to access onlineeditions ofnewspapers
from their cities despite being thousands ofkilometers
away.
The improved presentation styles, better use of colours,
pictures, design and graphicsdueto
rapidgrowthofdigitalmedia, fast andconvenient
editingthrough computers and content customisationhave
made it a verydynamic industry.
However, commercial considerations have at times taken
precedence over professional proprietyleading to
sensationalisation of news presentations and
commentaryto boost the sales, bringing a bad name to
the noble professionof keepingthepublicinformedabout
theenvironment inwhichweliveanddamages the
credibilityof the fourth pillar ofdemocracy. To check such
tendencies self regulationbythepressitselfispreferredto
anyoutsideinterferencefromoutside.
PrintMediainIndia
98
EvolutionofMassMedia The designated bodyto do this is
the Editors Guild of India. 6.5.8 Ever Expanding Press,
Books
Thus,notwithstandingthegrowthoftelevision,
thepresscontinuesto expandand grow inIndia.
In1950sonly240dailynewspaperswere publishedinIndia.
This number rose to 2, 856 dailies in 1990 and to 5364
daily newspapers in 2000. In March 2018, there were
more than a lakh publications registered with the RNI.
In1993, the total number of newspapers and periodicals
published was 35,595 whichhas gone up to 62,550 in 2006
which indicative ofsubstantialgrowthof thepress since
1990s.Asper the 55thannualreport ofRegistrar
ofNewspapers ofIndia, we have a totalof82,237 registered
periodicals of which32,793 were inHindi.
Englishcamesecondwith11,478newspapersandperiodicals.
The total circulation of newspapers increased to 32, 92,
04, 841 from 30, 88, 16, 563 copies in 2009- 10.
The publication of books in India dates back to 1566 when
first printing press
wasestablishedinGoa.Today,publishingbooksisaflourishing
business. Advances in marketing and technology have
propelled India’s book publishing industry forward into a
rapid and glorious expansion. Today, books are available
inlocal translations, inelectronic forms ase-books, inaudio
formasaudio books and in picture form as graphic books.
Nielsen Book Scan estimated that 13 million books worth
Rs 3.28bn were sold in the year 2011 covering over
286,455 separate titles. In the end of the year 2013,
magazine industry was valued at INR14 billion. Niche
magazines targeting a specific audience like magazines on
photography, travel, lifestyle, Bollywood, architecture,
sports, business etc. are performing the best.