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History of Media

By manishkr2588
History of Indian Newspaper
 
 
Birth of Journalism in India:
 
The history of the contemporary journalism beings with the establishment of the printing press
by Christian missionaries in India. The Christian missionaries set-up printing press by India at
such a time when our country was struggling with several social evils and malpractices like child
marriage, sati system, illiteracy, superstitions etc. Christian missionaries established printing
press at the end of fifteenth century for spreading the messages of Christianity in the country.
With the advent of the East India Company in India in the year 1600, heavy printing machines
were installed in Bombay, Madras and Calcutta in India in the years 1674, 1772 and 1778
respectively. In India Press was used for journalist purpose for journalistic purpose for the first
time in the year 1780.
 
Birth of Bengal Gazette: 
 
There were two rival groups in the council of then Governor- General- one group supporting
Warren Hastings, then Governor General and another group led by Philip Francis who himself an
aspirant of the post of the Governor General. In his patronage, a British named James Augustus
Hickey began the publication of a weekly newspaper called ‘Bengal Gazette’ (also known as
Calcutta General Advertiser/ Hickey Gazette) on January 29, 1780.
 
It was meant mainly for the Europeans. Its contents were non- serious, spicy and vulgar. Bengal
Gazette claimed itself to be political and commercial newspaper. Hickey described the
newspaper in the following words
 
                          “A weekly political and commercial newspaper open to
                 all parties but influenced by none”
 
But in reality, the newspaper was entirely against Warren Hastings and his friend Elijah Impey,
the chief justice of the Supreme Court. Bengal Gazette was known for its personal attacks on
Hastings and his friends. It had given Warren Hastings several nicknames like ‘Mr. Wronghead’,
‘The great Moghul’, ‘The Dictator’ etc. The newspaper survived only for two years. It was
closed down in 1782 with the departure of its patron Philip Francis to Rangeland. After Philip, it
had faced the hardships imposed by the administration. Hastings ceased its types and ordered its
closure. An impartial evaluation of the newspaper makes it clear that it can be a pioneer-
newspaper of India but its contents were not up to the mark. It was away from objectivity and
was very biased. It was better to call it the ‘Founder of Yellow Journalism’ in India instead of
‘Founder of the Indian Journalism’.
 
 
 
After Bengal Gazette:
 
Hastings established India Gazette in the year 1780 as a voice against Bengal Gazette. It was a
new paper of quality and standard in comparison to Hickey’s newspaper, India Gazette enjoyed
the patronage of Warren Hastings in the form of all facilities from him. Approximately 200
newspapers/ journals came into existence between 1780 and 1857 but most of them were closed
within short duration of time. Newspaper that continued their existence were-India Gazette
(1789-1834), Calcutta Gazette (1784-1878) , Asiatic Mirror (1788- 1820). The Calcutta
morning post (1799-1878), The Oriental star (1795-1857), the Calcutta Monthly Journal
(1794-1841) and The Bengal Harkaru (1795-1857). Some Europeans residing in India were
dissatisfied with the politics of East India Company. Calcutta became a melting pot of this
dissatisfaction and anger. This led to the birth of Hickey’s Gazette and thus hickey’s gazette
came to be known as first newspaper of the country. It also became a source of inspiration for
other newspapers that came into being from Madras, Delhi and Bombay, Madras Courier
(1785), The Harkaru (1791), Madras Gazette (1795), Bombay Herald (1789), The Bombay
gazette (1780), India gazette (1780) and The Voice of India (1882) are counted among the
pioneer-newspapers of India.
 
Buckingham: Guide to Indian journalism:
 
The real and stable form of the Indian journalism came on the force with the arrival of James
Silk Buckingham to India as the editor of Calcutta Journal in the year 1818. he was the person
with true journalistic spirit , abilities and a multidimensional personality. He is the real guide to
Indian Journalism. His newspaper had an effective presentation of political, commercial and
literary news stories. It was completely away from the cheapness promoted by Hickey’s gazette.
Buckingham was a close friend of Raja Ram Mohan Roy. Their friendship was a paradox in
itself because both belonged to different backgrounds and different ideologies. Roy was
essentially a social and religious reformer. Both of them struggled a lot for the freedom of Indian
Press and left an unforgettable impression in the field of the Indian Journalism.
 
Buckingham, despite his British origin did not hesitate to highlight the malpractices of the
British administration. As a result, his immigration permit was cancelled and he was forced to
quit India for good. During his last days of stay in India, he criticized Bishop of Calcutta in very
harsh words. His objective and impartial journalistic approach led to the popularity of the
newspaper. Within a short duration of three years the bi-weekly turned to Calcutta’s first daily.
On the other hand, some personnel of east India Company announced the publication of ‘John
Bull in the East’ in 1882. Maintenance of social and civil system was its declared objectives. But
I reality it stood against ‘Calcutta Journal’ under the editorship of Reverend Samuel Bryce, both
the rival newspapers remained indulged in war of words.
 
 
Three members of the council of the Governor- General, John Adams, John Fedel and William
Butterworth, were staunch opponents of Buckingham back to England. After Hastings, Adams
became the Governor-General. Buckingham was forced to quit India on January 13, 1823. But
Buckingham’s influence on the Indian Journalism was seen for the next 35 years. In 1857, the
British crown took over the administration after the ‘Sepoy Mutiny’.
 
Freedom Fighters In Journalism:
 
The Journalists in the initial days were mainly the foreigners who were promoting the interest of
the East India Company, their country or were promoting Christianity in the country. The Indian
Journalism could not take its real shape by this time in the true sense. Later, on Indian
Journalism emerged as a mission when some freedom fighters used Journalism as a weapon to
fight against the British. Akhbar Allahabadi, the well known Urdu poet has said ‘Khaincho Na
Kaman Ko, Na Talwar Nikalo/ jab Tope Ho Muaqabil To Akhbaar Nikalo’ implying ‘fight the
war with a newspaper and not with a sword’. As far as the question of the contributions of an
Indian Journalism is concerned, first name that comes to mind is of Raja Ram Mohan Roy. He
was basically a social reformer who contributed significantly for the elimination of the Sati
System and for the spread of Women Education in the country. He is truly said to be the ‘Father
of the Indian Journalism’. With his inspiration following three newspapers came into being:

1. Sambad Kaumudi (Bengali)

2. Mirat-ut Akhbar (Persian)
3. Brahminicial Magazine (English)

 
Raja Ram Mohan Roy in Journalism:
 
Samvad Kaumudi began under the editorship of Bhabani Charan Banerjee. But Banerjee left the
Newspaper after 13 issues because of the dispute with Roy on the points of Sati System and
other social reforms. Banarjee launched a separate newspaper called ‘Samachar Chandrika’
and promoted staunch Hindu values with its help.
 
‘Bengal Gazette was the first English Newspaper of India with an Indian ownership. Gangadhar
Bhattacharya began its publication in 1816. But it could sustain only for a year. In 1818 John
Burton and James Enzee obtained the approval of the publication of a weekly newspaper called
‘Guardian’. Sirampore Missionaries also began the publication of three newspapers/journals
called ‘Dighdarshan’ (Monthly Bengali Magazine), ‘Samachar Darpan’ (Weekly Bengali
Newspaper) and ‘Friend of India’ (Monthly English Newpaper). Both the magazines were
closed due to financial problems. But Samachar Darpan continued its existence till 1840.
‘Harkaru’ was the first English newspaper of India, which had a non-Indian ownership. It came
into existence on April 29, 1819.
 
 
With the inspiration of Raja Ram Mohan Roy, three more newspaper continued their publication
between 1821-1891. They were ‘The Reformer’, ‘The Enquirer’ and ‘Gyan Anveshan’. All
these newspapers were the promoters of Progressive Hinduism.
 
Later Development from Calcutta:
 
The initial 40 years of the Indian Journalism were entirely controlled by the Europeans. Calcutta
became the main centre of the publication of Newspapers and journals. Beginning with English
newspaper/ journals, Calcutta later on also witnessed the publication of several Bengali, Persian,
Hindi and Urdu newspaper/periodicals. Its noteworthy that seeds of the Hindi Journalism were
also sown in Calcutta. ‘Udant Martand’ which enjoys the pride of the being the Hindi
Newspaper of the country, also took birth in Calcutta. The reason of this concentration was not
only the availability of the printing facilities but Calcutta being the centre of the administration
also.
 
Amidst controversies and resistance, publication of 49 new newspapers began from Bengal and
Bombay between 1831-1833. Out of this, 33 were in English and 16 were in Bengali. Out of the
important factors facilitating the publication of newspapers in India, two were- spread of English
education and popularity of English language in India and the attention of British journalists
towards the socio-economic problems of India. Dwarkanath Tagore waqs the renowned
journalist of then Bengal who initiated the publication of ‘Bengal Herald’ and ‘Bangadoot’ in
English and Bengali respectively. He also supported the publication of ‘Bengal another English
Newspaper ‘Englishman’ financially and morally. In 1853 another English newspaper called
‘Patriot’ came into existence under the editorship of Girish Chandra Ghosh. After two years,
Harishchandra Mukherjee became its editor. After his death, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar
managed it. In 1861 Christo Paul became its editor who continued till 1884.
 
Indian Mirror, a fortnightly was an important newspaper of this period. Manmohan Ghosh was
its founder-editor. In 1871 Keshav Chandra took over its responsibility. He also began a Bengali
newspaper called ‘Sulabh Samachar’.
 
1857 Revolt and Press Laws:
 
The number of Newspapers in Indian languages before Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 was very
negligible. Most of the newspapers were published by Christian missionaries. There were two
weekly one and quarterly Tamil Newspaper published from Madras. Apart from this, two weekly
newspapers were published in Tamil and English language respectively. The government
provided grants to these newspapers because of certain reasons.
 
One common aspect in all newspaper published in this period was that most of them were
inclined towards the policies of the British government. Only a handful of Newspaper raised the
issue of the country’s independence.
When Charles Metcafle succeeded William Bentick for some time, he passed such a responsible
Press law, which allowed publication with some restrictions but without government’s approval.
Charles Metcaftle ignored the suggestions of friends to monitor
the Indian Newspapers. He even refused to differentiate between English and vernacular
newspapers. He made it clear that efforts of suppressing public opinion would be crushed. But
his press-friendly approach ruined his career and he never got the chance of becoming a
Governor-General on a permanent basis.
 
The attitude of the British government towards Indian press changed considerably after the 1857
revolt. Press of Bombay, Bengal and Madras did not show considerable interest in this revolt.
British Press went aggressive after this revolt and presented the revolt negatively. Lord
Canning’s liberal policies were criticized by the British press. But the Indian press did not come
forward to raise a voice against the poisonous attitude of the British press.
 
The rebellion of 1857 created a wide gulf between the owner’s of the English and vernacular
language press. This gulf gradually got widened. This divide was very much conspicuous from
1920 onwards with the advent of Mahatma Gandhi on the scenario of the freedom struggle.
 
Journalism and Social Reforms:
 
Some of the vernacular language newspapers of Bombay were inclined towards social reforms.
Bal Shastri Jambhekar began publishing an Anglo-Marathi fortnightly and a Marathi fortnightly
called ‘Dig’ in the years 1832 and 1842 respectively. Another newspaper ‘Prabhakar’ also
championed the cause of social reforms. Gopal Rao Deshmukh a well known social worker used
to write for the newspaper. He also wrote some other newspapers like Gyan Prakash, Indu
Praksh and Lokhitvarta. His articles were mainly on the social issues. He advocated social
reforms with cooperation from the British government.
 
Deshmukh initiated ‘Indu Prakash’ an Anglo-Marathi daily in the year 1861. Vishnu shastri
Pandit was the editor and Mahagovind Ranade was the columnist in that. Social reform was the
main goal of the publication. This was the time when intellectuals from Western India got
attracted towards Journalism one way or other. They looked Journalism as a powerful means of
expression. Mahagovind Ranade used journalism and stage through his life to fight the freedom
struggle. He is also known for his campaign for widow marriage. He organized conference for
the journalists of vernacular press. This conference was aimed to protest against the Vernacular
press Act 1878. This was the time Bal Gangadhar tilak and his follower Shri Agarkar were
planning to initiate ‘Kesari’ and ‘Maratha’ in Marathi and English language from Pune. Ranade
also came forward to give his support to Tilak and Agarkar.
 
 
From 1884- 1891 the well known social reformer Behram Malabari used the Indian press to raise
voice against the evils and malpractices of the contemporary Hindu society. Social reforms of
Malabari and Karsan Das went on simultaneously although both had a different methodology of
working. Karan Das went launched campaigns for widow-marriage while Malabari was trying to
uplift the Dalits and marginalized sections of the society. He launched a countrywide program
for discouraging child marriage.
 
Both the reformers were ardent advocates of English language. Revolutionary Vasudev Phadke
(1845-1883) was another supporter of the vernacular press of this period. He was termed as the
‘revolutionary’ by the British government because of his revolutionary steps taken against the
British Raj in India. History of the initial days of Indian Journalism are represented by
newspapers like ‘Hindu’ a weekly by C. Subramanyam Aiyer from Madras, ‘AmritBazar
Patrika’ edited by Motilal Ghosh from Calcutta. ‘Hindu Patriot’ by Harischandra Mukherjee
from Calcutta. ‘Indian Patriot’ from Malabar Kerala. Dr. George Bust who was the editor of
Bombay Times at the time of revolution of 1857 strongly recommended the actions against the
Indians by the British administration.  Bombay government did not take care to punish the editor
of but Naurozi  Fardoonji, a shareholder of the newspaper told him to give an assurance in
writing to keep his voice low. On his refusal, Robert Knight was made the editor in place of
Bust. In 1861 ‘Bombay Times’, ‘The Courier’ and ‘The Telegraph’ were merged. ‘Times of
India’ was established to the soaring height of success. Three important Anglo- Indian
newspapers ‘Pioneer’ from Allahabad, ‘Civil and Military Gazette’ from Lahore and
‘Statesmen’ from Calcutta came into being during this period. Alfred Watson was the editor of
the statesmen for some time but his achievements were negligible. Under the editorships of the
succeeding editors Arthur Moore and Ian Stephens, Statement had a liberal attitude towards
India. Another paper ‘Madras Mail’ is also worth mentioning because it is credited to the first
evening newspaper of the country. The ‘Hindu’ followed it.
 
The Delhi edition of the Statesmen came into being when Delhi became the capital of the
country. The viewpoint of the Times of India became more nationalist under the editorship of Sir
Stanley Reed. Editorial of Times of India started gaining popularity since the Second World
War. Its editorial articles were considered to be unique. Times of India was the first newspaper,
which had an Indian war-reporter.
 
Various Urdu newspaper were ceased to be published at the time of 1857 Sepoy Mutiny. These
Urdu newspapers were replaced by several such newspapers that had Hindu editors. In 1861
there were 17 vernacular newspapers that included eleven Urdu, six Hindi and one newspaper by
missionaries. Out of these newspapers eight published from Agra, two each from Ajmer and
Etawah, one from Ludhiana, Meerut, jaunpur, Saharanpur, Allahabad and kanpur.
Two renowned newspapers from 1878 onwards were- Sacchinananda Sinha’s ‘Indian People’
from Allahabad (Editoe- C.Y. Chintamani) and ‘Hindustan Review, pandit Madan Mohan
Malviya’s leader from Allahabad in 1909. Dayal Singh Majithya’s ‘Tribune’ from Lahore.
 
Sir Ferozshah Mehta began the publication of ‘Bombay Chronicle’ under the editorship of
Benjamin Goy Horniman. After some time Horniman left Bombay chronicle to join ‘Bombay
Sentinel’.
 
Vernacular Press
 
Majority of the newspapers published during the half of nineteenth century were Urdu
newspaper. Prominent among them were ‘Jaam-e-Jamshed’ (1878) published from Meerut.
Some newspapers began publishing from Agra and Delhi. ‘Saeedul Akbhar’ began in 1837 is
considered to be the first Urdu newspaper of Delhi. It was edited by Syed Mohammed Khan,
elder brother of Sir Syed Ahmad khan because its editor after his brother’s death. But he could
not sustain it for long as its involvement with educational activities. Delhi College and Agra
College were also publishing newspapers.
 
The assistant secretary of then government has mentioned three newspapers under the
newspapers of the Northwest province in his report. According to the report one newspaper was
in Persian and two other were in Nagri Script, but the language of all the newspapers were Urdu.
These were ‘Sudhakar Akhbhar’ (Naagri), Banaras Akhbaar (Naagri) and Banaras Gazette
9urdu). Sudhakar Akhbar was published by Pandit Ratneswar Tiwari while the remaining two by
Babau Raghunath Fatheh (Thatte). During this period Shekh Abhdullah began the publication of
‘Shimla Akhbar’ from Shimla in Hindi language.
 
After 1857, the Indian Press especially the Vernacular Press witnessed the atrocities of the
British government. . During this period the British crown had taken over the administration
from the East India Company. In 1859 Lord Canning became the viceroy of India and was
implemented the Indian Penal Code in 1860. The then public opinion of the country was much
influenced by the newspapers from Bengal like ‘Neel Darpan’, ‘The Hindu’, ‘Patriot’, ‘Shome
Prakash’, ‘Indian Mirror’ and ‘Bengal’. The scenario of the Indian Journalism witnessed a sea
change with the publication of ‘Amrit Bazaar Patrika’. Earlier, it was in Bengali language but
switched to English language overnight with ‘Vernacular Press Act’ being passed.
 
Gandhi and Journalism:
 
The country was experiencing the environment of the freedom struggle, which gave impetus to
the mission of Journalism. Many patriot Journalists began publication of newspaper on the theme
of independence. Newspapers were considered by such journalists for the freedom struggle.
Various freedom fighters joined English/vernacular press for fighting against the British
government for freedom. Gandhiji once said “Understanding and expressing the public opinion
is the first objective of Journalism, the second is expression of public aspirations and the third is
the expression of the shortcomings of the popular beliefs.”
 
The prominent newspaper of that time were ‘Vande ma taram’ (Hindi), ‘Kesari’ and
‘Maratha’ (Marathi), Swadedshmitram (Tamil), Amritbazaar Patrika, National Herald, The
Civil and Military gazette, Free Press journal, Bombay Chronicle, The Leader, The
tribune, Madras Standard and The Hitavada, all English.
 
In the twentieth century, various Hindi newspapers came into being. Mahamana Madan Mohan
Malviya began the publication of ‘Abhyudaya’ in 1907. Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi began
‘Pratap’ in 1913 from Kanpur while Mahendra Chandra in 1916. In 1920 Babu Shiv Prasad
Gupta from Varanasi initiated ‘Aaj’. The period witnessed the beginning of several important
Urdu newspapers as well. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad began ‘Al Hilal’ in 1912 from Calcutta.
‘Hamdam’ came into being by Abdul Bari in Lucknow. Anees Ahmad Abbasi established
weekly ‘Haqeeqat’, which later on converted into a daily. Mahashay Krishnan in Lahore
established ‘Pratap’, the well known Urdu daily newspaper in 1919. After partition publication
of Pratap shifted to Delhi. In 1923 Mahashay kushhal Chand established ‘Milap’. ‘Milap also
shifted to Delhi after partitions. Pratap and Milap are the two prominent newspapers that are still
being published.
 
The Rising Era commenced with Udant martand, Pandit Jugul Kishore Shukul began the
publication of ‘Udant Martand’ (the rising Sun) from Calcutta in 1826. There are controversies
about its exact date. According to some opinions, its first issue came out into on May 30, 1826
while according to J. Natrajan’s book, ‘History of Indian Journalsim’, its date of publication was
February 9, 1826. Pandit Shukul was the editor as well as publisher. This was the first
independent Hindi Newspaper of its kind. Its publication was closed down on December 04,
1827 due to financial crisis. Pandit Shukul also began the publication   of Samdand Martand.
 
Different Era of Journalism:
 
Hindi prose and poetry both witnessed tremendous development due to concerted efforts of
Bhartendu harischand. The period is called as Bhartendu Era. Almost two dozen newspapers
came into existence because of his role.. He himself began the publication of several
newspapers/journals. Important among them are-Kavivachan Sudha (1867),Harishchandra
magazine, Harishchandra Chandrika (1874) and Balabodini (1874). All these magazines
were inclined towards social reforms and elimination of the caste system.
 
Hindi language became very rich by Dwivedi (Tilak) Era; this period is also known for the
publication of several literary and patriotic newspapers. This age came to e known as Dwivedi
era because of the dedicated literary Journalism of Pandit Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi. His works
also inspired other poets like Maithali Sharan Gupta and Ayodhya Singh Upadyaya
‘Hariaundh’. Important newspapers of the period were Karmyogi, Karmveer, Pratap,
Nrisingh
 
Gandhian Era is mainly known for the journalistic works of Mahatma Gandhi. He had excellent
command over English and Gujrati language. His pieces of writing were very simple and
encouraging. He began the publication of English newspaper ‘Young India’ with ‘Tarun
Bharat’ as the Hindi edition. The literary magazine ‘Madhuri’ also came out during this period
in 1922. Premchand and Suryakant Nirala were also associated with this magazine for some
time. Premchand established ‘Hans’ from Varanasi in 1930. 
 
 
After ‘Saraswati’ and ‘Vishal Bharat’, Hans was the most revolutionary magazine of that time.
Aaj was a very popular newspaper of that time.. In 1933 Hindustan the Hindi
Version of Hindustan times came into existence. Navbharat (1938) from Nagpur, Aaryavarth
(1942) from Patna. Vishva bandhu (1942) from Lahore and Dainik Jagran (1942) from Kanpur
came out.
 
Post Independence India:
 
The Journalistic values went a sea change along with the changes in the Nationalistic values. The
Indian Constitution recognized ‘right to expression’ as a constitutional right of every Indian
citizen. India is one of those countries in the world where in citizens are free to express their
views. The press is allowed to perform the twin-task of highlighting the weaknesses of the
government and the administration and also unearthing the corruption. The contemporary Indian
Newspapers have established certain values and guidelines for themselves that include
development of a new outlook, conservation and dissipation of the Indian Culture, Promotional
of harmony among different Indian languages, encouragement to literary personalities,
information dissemination to the people, their education and their entertainment.
 
 
The Indian Press had to experience the severity of the government in the past. Apart from a few
incidents, the Indian Journalism is peacefully moving on the path of Independent and healthy
journalism. The competition due to electronic media has strengthened the roots of the Indian
Journalism. The print media has maintained its supremacy amidst cutthroat competition and
diversification