BRIEF HISTORY OF INDIAN MEDIA
By Kunal
Assistant Professor (Deptt of History)
Samastipur College, Samastipur.
Indian Media consists of several different types of communications: television, radio, cinema,
newspapers, magazines, and Internet-based Web sites/portals. Indian media was active since
the late 18th century with print media started in 1780, radio broadcasting initiated in 1927, and
the screening of Auguste and Louis Lumière moving pictures in Bombay initiated during the July
of 1895. It is among the oldest and largest media of the world. Media in India has been free and
independent throughout most of its history, even before the establishment of Indian empire by
Ashoka the Great on the foundation of righteousness, openness, morality and spirituality. The
period of emergency (1975–1977), declared by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, was the brief
period when India's media was faced with potential government retribution.
The country consumed 99 million newspaper copies as of 2007 - making it the second largest
market in the world for newspapers. By 2009, India had a total of 81,000,000 Internet users -
comprising 7.0% of the country's population, and 7,570,000 people in India also had access to
broadband Internet as of 2010 - making it the 11th largest country in the world in terms of
broadband Internet users. As of 2009, India is among the 4th largest television broadcast stations
in the world with nearly 1,400 stations. Snapshot of evolution of media in India is as below:
Mass media in India - Bengal:
The Bengal Gazette was started by James Augustus Hickey in 1780. The Gazette, a two-sheet
newspaper, specialized in writing on the private lives of the Sahibs of the Company. He dared
even mount scurrilous attacks on the Governor-General, Warren Hastings', wife, which soon
landed "the late printer to the Honorable Company" in trouble.
Hickey was sentenced to a 4 months jail term and Rs.500 fine, which did not deter him. After a
bitter attack on the Governor-General and the Chief Justice, Hickey was sentenced to one year
in prison and fined Rs.5, 000, which finally drove him to penury. These were the first tentative
steps of journalism in India.
Mass media in India - Calcutta:
B. Messink and Peter Reed were pliant publishers of the India Gazette, unlike their infamous
predecessor. The colonial establishment started the Calcutta Gazette. It was followed by
another private initiative the Bengal Journal. The Oriental Magazine of Calcutta Amusement, a
monthly magazine made it four weekly newspapers and one monthly magazine published from
Calcutta, now Kolkata.
Mass media in India - Madras Chennai:
The Madras Courier was started in 1785 in the southern stronghold of Madras, which is now
called Chennai. Richard Johnson, its founder, was a government printer. Madras got its second
newspaper when, in 1791, Hugh Boyd, who was the editor of the Courier quit and founded the
Hurkaru. Tragically for the paper, it ceased publication when Boyd passed away within a year of
its founding.
It was only in 1795 that competitors to the Courier emerged with the founding of the Madras
Gazette followed by the India Herald. The latter was an "unauthorised" publication, which led to
the deportation of its founder Humphreys. The Madras Courier was designated the purveyor of
official information in the Presidency.
In 1878, The Hindu was founded, and played a vital role in promoting the cause of Indian
independence from the colonial yoke. It's founder, Kasturi Ranga Iyengar, was a lawyer, and his
son, K Srinivasan assumed editorship of this pioneering newspaper during the first half of the 20th
century. Today this paper enjoys the highest circulation in South India, and is among the top five
nationally.
Mass media in India - Bombay:
Bombay, now Mumbai, surprisingly was a late starter - The Bombay Herald came into existence
in 1789. Significantly, a year later a paper called the Courier started carrying advertisements in
Gujarati.
The first media merger of sorts: The Bombay Gazette, which was started in 1791, merged with the
Bombay Herald the following year. Like the Madras Courier, this new entity was recognised as
the publication to carry "official notifications and advertisements".
'A Chronicle of Media and the State', by Jeebesh Bagchi in the Sarai Reader 2001 is a handy
timeline on the role of the state in the development of media in India for more than a century.
Bagchi divides the timeline into three 'ages'. The Age of Formulation, which starts with the Indian
Telegraph Act in 1885 and ends with the Report of the Sub-Committee on Communication,
National Planning Committee in 1948.
State of Modern Mass Media
After Independence, the Indian media had evolved, realigned and reinvented itself to a large
extent, and now-a-days you can see a clear division between commercial and aesthetic
expressions of our Media Giants, sometimes arbitrary. Modern mass communication media is
poles apart relative to any aesthetic feeling: vulgarity and arrogance nullify any hypothesis of
meaning. Aesthetics is the more powerful answer to violence of modern mass communication.
Today’s mass communication media seems to elude every determination, exposing its message
to all possible variants, and it finishes to abolish it. Goal of mass communication is always the
unbiased dissipation of any content, and the world wide web is no exception, and surely is the
most efficient media tool.
It’s also very interesting to observe how the old media are becoming more and more
permeable to blogs and D.I.Y. information. This phenomenon is not due to a fascination in more
democratic information sources. On the contrary - the pressure is rising due to the growth of the
eyes’ (cameras and new digital devices) that are watching the same events that mainstream
media are reporting to us: the possibility of being uncovered are too many and broadcast
journalists are forced to tell the truth (or at least a plausible version of it). As a consequence,
blogs have become the major source of news and information about many global affairs. We
also have to consider that bloggers are often the only real journalists, as they (at their own risk)
provide independent news in countries where the mainstream media is censored, biased or
under control.
Indian Press Under British Rule
Bengal Gazette (English weekly) published by James Augustus Hickey in 1780 Jan 29th from
Calcutta. It was the first newspaper in South Asian sub- continent
- Bengal Gazette alias 'Hickey Gazette’, ‘Calcutta General Advertiser’
- Declaration ‘a weekly political and commercial paper open to all but, influenced by none’
- Hickey had his own column, many people wrote with pen names.
- Bengal Gazette could not survive more than two years due to sharp confrontation with
Governor 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 everything 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), Mirat ul Akhbar (Persian 1822) and
Brahmanical 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 the 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 at 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, Ishwar Chandra 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, Lokhitwadi (all 1861),
Amrit Bazar Patrika (1868 Cacutta),
Pioneer (1872 Allahabad),
The Hindu (1878 Chennai) ,
Kesari (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,
Balshastri 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 the establishment of INC, Indian press became an important part of the 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 Nehru
- 1919- Young India – ed- Mahatma Gandhi
- 1920 – Nav Jeevan – Gujarati weekly- Mahatma Gandhi
- 1922- Swarajya- ed- T.Prakasam
- 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 Nehru
- 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 was 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 Nehru) 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”.
Indian Press: 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 Nehru, 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
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) / Akashbani
- Before independence AIR stations in Hyderabad, Baroda, Mysore, Trivandrum, Aurangabad,
Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta, Madras, Lucknow, Pesawar and Dhaka
- During second World War radio became more popular in India
- After independence AIR was a major tool to disseminate 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 being 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 AGENCIES
- 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 (PIB), under the Ministry of Information, provides government news
and information in English, Hindi, Urdu and 13 regional languages.
