COMMENTARY

INDIAN LANGUAGES NEWSPAPERS: 1 1940s, Mathrubhumi supported such

demands, which were met in two stages, first,
Malayalam: 'The Day-to-Day Social with the unification of Travancore and Cochin
in 1949 and then with the formation of Kerala
Life of the People...' state, under the far-reaching reorganisation
of India's states, in 1956.
Robin Jeffrey From the beginning of the 20th century,
Kerala was notorious for its passion for
Spreading across India after the end of the 'emergency' in 1977, newspapers. 3 The first reports of the
Registrar of Newspapers for India in the
technological change in the form of the personal computer and offset
1950s showed Malayalam dailies selling
press revolutionised the newspaper industry. The circulation of daily 4,30,000 copies a day, only 84,000 fewer
newspapers in all languages trebled between 1976 and 1992 -from than Hindi, the national language.4 And
9.3 million to 28.1 million and the dailies-per-thousand people ratio Mathrubhumi was Kerala's leading daily
doubled-from 15 daily newspapers per 1,000 people to 32 per with an estimated circulation of 19,000 at
independence in 1947, which rose quickly
1000. Regular reading of something called 'news' both indicates and to 26,000by 1952,5 Once the struggle against
causes change. Expansion of competing newspapers clearly signals the British ended, Mathrubhumi faced
the vitality and growth of capitalism: newspapers have owners and similar choices to those of other nationalist
owners must have advertisers. The changes of the past 20 years are newspapers in Indian languages. What now
obvious yet largely unstudied. The essays in this series on the press was their role? For Mathrubhumi, this was
perhaps easier than for newspapers
in the major Indian languages are part of a larger project to map, elsewhere. The bitter struggle between the
analyse and try to understand the transformation of the Indian- Congress and the Communists in Kerala
language newspaper industry. It would be foolhardy to argue that gave a Congress newspaper not only a reason
Malayalam newspapers, because they have long led India on most for existence but a steady supply of
electrifying stories for eager readers. The
statistical measures, provide models of the future for other parts conduct of the newspaper remained with the
of the country. However, the Malayalam experience does illustrate old nationalists who had founded it and who
the force of capitalist practices and international technology and comprised most of the shareholders, most
the necessity of adapting these forces constantly and skilfully to of whom, it was said, had little idea where
local conditions. they had put their ancient share certificates.
Commercial competition became
noticeable after the formation of Kerala state
THE second largest Malayalam daily attention of officials, the British acknow- in 1957. Mathrubhumi had been slow to join
newspaper has impeccable nationalist ledged that Mathrubhumi the Audit Bureau of Circulations, as its
origins and distinctive regional and social reaches every village in the district [of certificate No 143 suggests. The other long-
associations; but what makes it particularly Malabar] and... [a] mischievous attack on established Malayalam daily, Malayala
instructive for our purposes is its struct- the Police [in Mathrubhumi1 is likely to do Manorama, published from Kottayam in the
ure of ownership. Based in the northern a great deal of harm among the mass of the old Travancore state, held ABC certificate
Kerala town of Kozhikodc (Calicut), people who arc able to read but not able to No 19, an indication of the newspaper's
Mathrubhumi (circulation 1995; 5,35,000) think for themselves.2
origins in 1888 as a venture of a prospering
was founded in 1923 in the aftermath of Mathrubhumi came to be known as a Syrian Christian family. By 1960, Malayala
Gandhi's non-cooperation movement as Congress newspaper, closely associated with Manorama had become the largest-selling
a public limited company. This status Malabar district and with Nayars, the upper Malayalam daily with 91,000 copies to
makes it rare among newspapers, which caste group that had largely made up both Mathrubhumi's 78,000. 6 In 1962, Mathru-
tend to be closely held private companies the gentry and intelligentsia of Kerala. bhumi started a second edition in Cochin and
owned by a single family. Mathrubhumi's To refer to 'Kerala', however, is premature. recaptured the circulation lead for the next
ownership has proved controversial, and Under the British, the Malayalam-speaking five years. Malayala Manorama countered
the struggles to control it illustrate the region was divided among three political by setting up an edition in Kozhikode itself
extent to which language and newspapers entities. TheMalayalam language and shared in 1966,7 and by 1971 had established a lead
affect the emotions and politics of large social characteristics gave Kerala a cultural in circulation that it has never surrendered.
numbers of people. unity which the British had frozen into The 1960s was adecade of striking circulation
The newspaper's founders were members political division about 1,800. In the north, rises. From 1960 to 1971, both dailies more
of the Indian National Congress led by Malabar district, the home of Mathrubhumi, than trebled: Malayala Manorama, from
K F Kesava Menon (1886-1978); its share- was one of two dozen districts in the sprawling 91,000 copies to 3,09,000; Mathrubhumi,
holders included about 350 men and women Madras presidency, directly ruled by the from 78,000 to 2,50,000.
of Kerala. Though Mathrubhumi lost money British. The southern part of today's Kerala Of particular interest, however, is the
regularly in its early years, that did not matter, was divided between two 'princely states' contrast in the managements of the two
its historian noted in 1973, because its goals ruled by Indian princes - Cochin, small and organisations and the timing of crucial
were not those of business but of social central, and Travancore, much larger, to the changes. Though both newspapers are public
service.1 It battled gallantly with British south. From 1920 when Gandhi reorganised limited companies, Malayala Manorama is
authorities before independence and bitterly the provincial units of Indian National closely held as a family operation; it is hard
with Kerala's Communists from the late Congress on linguistic lines, modest pressures to imagine its share being traded in the
1930s. By the 1940s, as Kerala's literate and had grown for common Malayali institutions, market. Similar assumptions governed
politicised character forced itself to the including a single state of Kerala. In the Mathrubhumi as long as the old nationalists

18 Economic and Political Weekly January 4-11, 1997

lived. They, too. were rather like a family, chain - Bennett and Coleman, owners of The a newspaper chose to stand still, rivals would
and a clutch of stalwarts ran the newspaper. Times of India in Bombay.'3 Nalapat and his woo the readers and take the advertisers.
All this began slowly to unravel at the end supporters sold close to 20 per cent of the Kerala in 1990 had 120 daily newspapers
of Indira Gandhi's 'emergency'. As new shares in Mathrubhumi Though this was registered with its government public
technology became inevitable, the need for scarcely a controlling interest, others saw the relations department, more dailies than any
capital grew, as did the pressures to change sale as the beginning of a Times of India comparable region of India.17 The processes
the way a slow-moving, old-style, probably takeover of a Kerala institution, and, accor- of capitalist expansion and technical change
overstaffed newspaper worked. A prolonged ding to Nalapat, an "innate sense of paranoia thus worked themselves out more noticeably
strike followed.9 The old nationalists began surfaced". 14 The dominant shareholders and dramatically and not merely between
to retire or die in the 1970s. A new edition, appealed against the sale to the Kerala High Mathrubhumi and Malayala Manorama.
launched from Trivandrum in 1980, did not Court which ruled that because The Times Two of the state's most important
close the gap with Malayata Manorama. A of India was a competitor of Mathrubhumi, institutions are the Catholic Church and the
struggle began among the shareholders for the sale was invalid. Some saw the court's Communist Party of India (Marxist), the
control of the company. The 5,000 shares decision more as a response to Kerala senti- CPI(M). Each long ago started a newspaper
at Rs 5 each, which had floated the newspaper ment than to the requirements of the law. to speak to and for the faithful. Indeed,
in 1923, acquired undreamt-of value. By the The Times of India appealed to the Supreme Deepika (the light) is the oldest still-
1990s, with control of the newspaper Court of India where the case was still pen- publishing newspaper in Kerala, founded in
contested, they traded at thousands of rupees ding in the mid- 1990s.15 The rival, Malayala Kottayam by Carmelite priests in 1887. The
each.10 The struggle to control Mathrubhumi Manorama, extended its circulation lead CPI(M)'s Deshabhimani, founded in 1942.
eventually reached the Supreme Court of India in Kerala to more than 2,50,000 copies in had a rocky history of conflict with both
and illustrated the value of a newspaper and 1995.'6 British and post-independence governments.
the way in which languages and local honour The struggle for Mathrubhumi highlights By the 1980s, however, as Mathrubhumi and
provide at least a hindrance to the acquisition processes that went on throughout India Malayala Manorama both strove to become
of newspapers by 'outside' capitalists. from the late 1970s. People connected with broad-based, appcal-to-everyone news-
In 1993, Mathrubhumi's general manager Indian-language newspapers discovered that papers, both theCatholic and the Communist
- finance described the financial structure such newspapers had enormous potential newspapers were forced to change their
and compulsions of the company." When for profit and power, yet the same circum- approach. Deshabhimani passed Deepika in
the newspaper was floated in the 1920s, stances rendered them more susceptible to circulation in 1983, and by 1987 had
3,479 of the 5,000 shares were purchased destruction than ever before. It was no longer established a marked advantage (74,000 to
at a nominal fee of Rs 5 each by 352 different enough to rely on the old methods, the old 54,000). But both lay far in the wake of the
shareholders, 203 of whom bought only one advertisers, the old subscribers and the old major dailies (here we must add the
share each. Even in the 1990s, no single labour practices. Trivandrum-based Kerala Kaumudi -
person owned more than 225 shares. Kerala by the late 1970s appeared circulation 1995: 1,32,000). As the costs of
Mathrubhumi was a "public limited company increasingly unusual in India, its falling birth newsprint, equipment and even news-
in the true sense", Shareholders elect nine rate and high levels of literacy generated the gathering rose, the need for advertising
directors for two-year terms, one-third being label 'Kerala model' to describe its puzzling became inescapable, but major advertisers
elected each year,12 economic and social development. Its heavy wanted readers, not simply devotees. Both
The late 1970s brought two important migration of workers to the Gulf brought newspapers set out to broaden their appeal.
changes. First, the old nationalists, who had foreign exchange that made Kerala people The resident editor of Deshabhimani's
run the newspaper as a kind of public trust, eager purchasers of low-cost consumer goods. Tri vandrum edition caught the sense of what
began to disappear. Second, the economic Advertisers grew interested. was happening as he explained why his
climate in India and in Kerala began to A classic conundrum presented itself. To newspaper now covered the major festivals
become more unapologetically capitalist. attract advertising, a newspaper needs to of all religions. The religiously inclined, he
Mathrubhumi, which under its old regime show high circulations. To attract new said, could read the newspaper and, if they
was a Kerala institution and also an effectively readers, it has either to get the paper into wished,pray for Nayanar theCPI(M) leader,
run business, came to be seen as a valuable new areas or win readers from other news- to be elected. From 1988, the CPI(M)
asset. Its control could provide wealth - and papers. By the late 1970s, technology was agonised, debated and slowly moved towards
certainly provided influence and prestige. becoming available to allow newspapers to advertising agents, sports pages, marriage
Shares in Mathrubhumi began to be traded reach ever more remote areas in reasonable advertisements and coverage of religious
in a way that was inconceivable 10 years lengths of time. But such technology required festivals. By 1993, it was claimed that
earlier. Indeed, when the share book was investment, and only a growing newspaper advertising took up a quarter to a third of
tidied up in the mid-1980s, it was found that could persuade bankers to back it. And if any edition. The claim was now made with
there were dozens of partly paid-up shares
whose owners were long dead or unknown.
Such shares were forfeited, making the remai n-
ing valid shares even more valuable. A keen
contest to control the company began, in which
M P Veerendra Kumar, a wealthy planter and
political aspirant, who held about 3 per cent
of the shares, emerged as the dominant
shareholder and became managing director.
In the course of this struggle, M D Nalapat,
another shareholder and editor from 1984-87,
whose mother, the writer Kamala Das, also
held shares, was forced off the board of
directors. Nalapat then broke the rules as
they had existed up till that time: he sold his
shares (at Rs 12,500each) not merely outside
of Kerala but to India's wealthiest newspaper

19
Economic and Political Weekly January 4-11, 1997
pride; once it might have been stated with presses have allowed printing centres, out, they generally have a positive side. The
a cynical guffaw. bringing out easier-to-read newspapers, to story of a murdered taxi driver in 1992 brought
Deepika also had to change its style. In come closer to widening circles of Indians. Rs 13,000 in donations for his widow, and
1989, priests withdrew from the conduct of This is especially true in Kerala, which, in the 'Victims of Cruel Fate' feature wis said
the newspaper, and it was made a public any case, is often described as a vast 'urban to have collected and distributed more than
limited company with about half the shares village1 -continuous semi-urban, semi-rural Rs 10 million over 20 years."
held by the Catholic Church. In 1992, it settlement running from north to south. But The intense rivalry between the two
brought in as managing director and managing to move a newspaper closer to local readers weeklies in the 1980s illustrated the blending
editor a former marketing manager from a means the whole locality must be the focus of Kerala issues with the techniques of
fertiliser company. 19 The emphasis on of the local pages. In the past, Deepika might international capitalism. Founded in 1969
managing and marketing shows the trend: have been the paper for Catholics, by M C Varghese, who once worked in the
the transition from fertilisers to newspapers Deshabhimani for Marxists, but now to production department of Deepika,
was not judged to be difficult for a good maximise readership, every newspaper must Mangalam is a job-printer-to-media-moghul
marketing man. Deepika started new aim to cover every social group - to try to story. Having an interest in people and
publications: an evening daily in the nearby report the whole scene of its operations, not believing he knew what they liked, Varghese
city of Cochin, a financial weekly and merely the bits of it that its publishers might started a magazine with 250 copies printed
specialist magazines for job-seekers and specifically regard as worthy or their own. on a treadle press. In 1984, it hit 7,70,000
farmers. It hired young journalists who In theory, this might mean that individuals and passed Manorama Weekly (6,37,000).36
eagerly investigated local stories, set out to come to know more about the practices of Until Mangalam actually took the lead, the
rock boats and dismissed Malayala their neighbours than ever before and that Manorama people "did not take it that
Manorama and Mathrubhumi as "the the newspaper habit creates - or reinforces seriously". Once threatened, however, they
monopoly press".20 - a sense of shared geography and related called in the Market and Research Group
This homogenisation - or broadening - of customs. Kerala suggests that to expand (MARG) from Bombay, "felt the pulse of
daily newspapers' coverage to appeal to as circulation, it is necessary to localise a the reader and changed our style a bit".27 By
wide an audience as possible had gone on newspaper's geographical coverage and 1990, the two publications were on roughly
in Malayala Manorama from the 1960s. broaden its social coverage. even terms, selling about a million copies
Kerala newspapers tended to cater for Three other aspects must be considered in each.2' Subsequently, Manorama Weekly
particular social groups and interests. a discussion of the Malayalam press: the recovered its lead of former times. It did so
Malayala Manorama therefore was held to place of periodicals, the question of cost and by asking readers what they wanted to read.
be a Syrian Christian paper for central Kerala; the effects of television. Malayalam weekly It commissioned serials on themes that
Mathrubhumi, a nayar paper for the northern magazines indicate the importance to readers market-research indicated would appeal to
hal f of the state; Deshabhimani, for the CPM; of familiar things close to hand. The largest readers and developed plots as the stories
Deepika, for Catholics of all kinds; Kerala circulating periodical in India in the mid- went along, again in consultation with target
Kaumudi, for ezhavas (lower-caste Hindus) 1990s, and for many years before, has been groups. The magazine hired writers to
of southern Kerala. However, when Malayala one of two Malayalam weeklies: Manorama produce novels from story ideas that had
Manorama started its Kozhikode edition in Weekly or Mangalam. In 1995, Manorama already been tested with market-research
1966, it became "a big supporter of the Weekly sold 1.2 million copies a week; groups of readers.2" At Mangalam, M C
Muslim community", Muslims accounting Mangalam, more than 9,00,000.24 Priced at Varghese credited his success to his "people
for more than 30 per cent of the population Rs 1.80 for Manorama Weekly and Rs 2 for interest"; 30 at the revamped Manorama
of northern Kerala.21 To create inroads into Mangalam, together the two magazines were Weekly, the recipes of modern marketing
Mathrubhumi's circulation and to attract new purchased each week by one in every 10 replaced the intuition of Charles Dickens.
readers, the newspaper changed its focus. adults living in Kerala. The price equalled Though no women were involved in the
When Mathrubhumi opened in Trivandrum, that of a cup of tea or coffee. A full rice meal production of cither magazine, both
15 years later, it did the same thing. It had in a basic restaurant cost Rs 6. magazines agreed that the majority of their
oncc a convention that its reporter in What did readers get for this small readers were women. The editor of
Kottayam, home town of Malayala investment? Most of all, stories. A 40-page Manorama Weekly in 1993 estimated women
Manorama, was always a Hindu. Nalapat, issue of Manorama Weekly might contain were 70-75 per cent of its readers.-1 There
the young editor, appointed Christians and 23 pages of stories - one or two short stories was an element of condescension in this. We
told them to look for stories about Christians and six or seven serialised novels, all of them wrote, they said at Mangalam, for the "lower
- how else would Christians, whose money about Kerala people and most of them set strata of society"." But for the two magazines
was as good as anyone else's, come to read in the present. On the front cover, always to sell two million copies a week in a state
the newspaper?22 "We were the ones", said the face - never the torso - of a pretty and with only 30 people million suggested that
Malayala Manorama's news editor in very proper girl. In the issue of April 17, a lot of men were furtively reading Mangalam
Kozhikode (a Muslim), "who [put)... local 1993, for example, she also happened to be or Manorama Weekly, disguised perhaps
stories on the front pages ... [and] people the daughter of two nayar teachers at Nair behind a copy of a 'reputable' daily or, given
were very much crazy because their name Service Society College, Changanacherry. Kerala's powerful Communist tradition, the
appears [or] their photo appears. We There had to be no mistake that the magazine works of Karl Marx. What is important for
identified with the masses"." was for all Malayalis.Manoramapublications our discussion is the way in which
To make a newspaper "identify with the long ago began working hard to overcome publications were compelled to seek as many
masses" - to localise it - to get close to the apy suspicion that they published "only for potential readers as possible: all religions,
readers - is in some ways a geographical Christians". The magazines usually carried a) I castes, all genders. To survive and succeed,
task: distance and isolation have to be an interview, a health column, recipes, print needs mass readership which comes
overcome. Newspapers must have pages in readers' letters and advice-to-readers. In only from such widening and including.
which people see their own and their Mangalam, the latter is called Tor Women As India's most literate state with its most
neighbours' pictures and stories. They must Only'. Though very puritanical about sex (its buoyant newspaper industry, Kerala may
also see these things at the right time: if it owner banned advertisements for brassieres), offer a standard by which to gauge the
is a daily newspaper, usually this means in Mangalam often carries a lurid news feature constraints on readership imposed by levels
the morning, usually in India by seven in the - 'Victims of Cruel Fate'. Suicides and of literacy, wealth and television penetration.
morning. Computer technology and offset murders are favourites, but, an editor pointed By the 1990s, virtually every adult in Kerala

20 Economic and Political Weekly January 4-11, 1997

was able to read and write. Mass literacy uncensored (by Indian governments at least), 15 Business India (hereafter BI], March 6-19,
campaigns in the early 1990s were held to slicker television to Indian viewers, but none 1989, p 99 and April 3-16, 1989, p 37, IT,
have eliminated the last pockets of illiteracy. of it in Malayalam. Asianet, a Malayalam March 31. 1989, p 89.
Indeed, at Mangalam, they claimed that many 16 A Preliminary List of Circulations Certified
channel owned by Indian investors and for the Six-Monthly Audit Period ended June
old people came to the literacy classes because beamed at Kerala from a Russian satellite, 30,1995, p 4, Malayala Manorama 7,90,000;
they wanted to be able to read Mangalam began in September 1993 but faltered in the Mathrubhumi 5,35,000.
for themselves." face of bureaucratic delays in connecting 17 Dailies and Periodicals of Kerala
For a number of years, the ratio of dailies- Kerala homes to the signal (either by cable (Trivandrum: Department of Public Relations,
to-people stuck at between 50 and 60 dailies or reception dish)." Until television in 1990), pp 8-13.
18 Interview, K Mohanan, Resident Editor,
per 1,000 Keralans. This was far higher than Malayalam was sufficiently widespread, Deshabhimani, Trivandrum, April 18, 1993.
the all-India average of about 30:1,000 or the immediate and local, it was newspapers and 19 Interview, P K Abraham, Managing Director
next-best languages which were in the range magazines that still reflected and embellished and Managing Editor, Deepika, Kottayam,
of 30-to-40 dailies per thousand speakers. daily life in ways which induced people to April 12, 1993.
Figures for the 1990s are ambiguous, though spend their money. 20 Interview, Jose T Thomas, Chief News Editor
the 1992 rise in the circulation of Malayalam Deepika, Kottayam, April 12, 1993. Sunday
It would be foolhardy to argue, however, Observer, February 14, 1993.
dailies, which would give a 70:1,000 ratio, that Malayalam newspapers, because they 21 Interview, Jacob Mathew, Resident Editor
seems more accurate than the surprisingly have long led India on most statistical and General Manager, Malayala Manorama,
low daily circulations published by the measures, provide models of the future for Kozhikode, April 2, 1993.
Registrar of Newspapers forIndiafor 1991 other parts of the country. Television has just 22 Interview, M D Nalapat, Resident Editor.
Since the 1980s, readership has not grown begun to transform Indian media, and its The Times of India, Bangalore, April 19,
1993.
as fast as the proprietors of Malayalam effects may render obsolete all previous 23 Interview, K Aboobacker, News Editor,
publications would wish. The National experience. The Malayalam experience does, Malayala Manorama, Kottayam, April 2,
Readership Survey of 1995 (NRS-1995) however, illustrate the force of capitalist 1993.
found that no Malayalam daily ranked in the practices and international technology, yet 24 A Preliminary List of Circulations Certified
top 10 Indian dailies in terms of readership.35 the necessity of adapting those forces for the Six-Monthly Audit Period ended June
This results from the fact that a number of constantly and skilfully to local conditions. 30, 1995, p 7.
25 Interview, K M Roy, General Editor,
Malayalam dailies compete so intensely that The contest to controlMathrubhumiexempli- Mangalam Daily, Kottayam, April 8, 1993.
no single newspaper, not even Malayala fies the sentiment that can be aroused when 26 A Preliminary List of Circulations Certified
Manorama dominates. Similarly, Kerala outsiders affront local honour. The key to for the Six-Monthly Audit Period ended June
households appear to want to buy their own expanding circulations, according to editors 30, J984, p 9.
newspaper, and the number of individual at Mangalam, is "involvement of the weekly 27 Interview, Jacob Mathew, Resident Editor
and General Manager, Malayala Manorama,
readers of each copy may be declining in with the day-to-day social life of the people".-"
Kozhikode, April 2, 1993.
Kerala, even though circulations continue to 28 A Preliminary List of Circulations Certified
rise. At Mangalam, for example, the editors Notes for the Six-Monthly Audit Period ended June
maintained that some families bought three 30. 1990, pp 8-9.
1 V R Menon, Matrubhumiyute Charitram 29 Interview, K Padmanabhan Nair, Editor,
copies because each member wanted a (history of Mathrubhumi) (Kozhikode: Manorama Weekly, Kottayam, April 8,1993.
personal copy to take to work or school. Mathrubhumi, 1973), p 4. 30 Interview, M C Varghese, Owner and Chief
Malayalam newspaper circulations also 2 C FV Williams, District Magistrate, Malabar, Editor, Mangalam, Kottayam, April 8,1993.
illustrated the limitations of purchasing to chief secretary to the Madras Government, 31 Interview, K Padmanabhan Nair, Editor,
November 27, 1941, Public (General) Manorama Weekly, Kottayam, April 8,1993.
power. The state of Kerala falls below all- Department, Madras, No 2903, December 17,
India averages for per capita income. And 32 Interview K M Roy, General Editor,
1941 (Kerala Secretariat). Mangalam Daily, Kottayam, April 8, 1993.
the national averages themselves are low. 3 Robin Jeffrey, Politics, Women and Well- 33 Interview, K M Roy, General Editor,
NRS-1995 estimated that 75 per cent of being; How Kerala Became 'a Model' Mangalam Daily Kottayam April 8,1993.
urban households in India had a monthly (London: Macmllan, 1992), p 3.
34 Pll, 1992,pp36,45,haddatafor35 Malayalam
income ofless than Rs 3,000 (about US $ 85). 4 Annual Report oftheRegistrarfor Newspapers
dailies whose circulation totalled 1.5 million.
India, 1958, (New Delhi: Ministry of
In Kerala, a family of four needs perhaps 40 Pll 1993, pp 37,40 had data for37 Malayalam
Information and Broadcasting, 1959),
kg of rice a month - a cost of about Rs 300 dailies whose circulation was 2.1 million. The
pp 30-31.
for good rice at 1993 prices. A daily explanation may have more to do with the
5 Report of the Press Commission, 1954, Part
vagaries of the RNI's statistics than with
newspaper - Rs 60 a month - may represent I (New Delhi: Government of India Press,
changes in Kerala. Audit Bureau of
the sacrifice of eight kg of rice or nearly a 1954), p 19.
Circulations figures do not show dramatic
week's supply. The 70:1,000 people-to- 6 A Preliminary List of Circulations Certified
increases in this period. In short, the RNI1991
for the Six-Monthly Audit Period ended
dailies ratio of Kerala in 1992 may represent figures are probably too low as a result of
December 31. I960, p 7.
as high a consumption of newspapers as India careless data collection and omissions.
7 Interview, Jacob Mathew, Resident Editor
can expect without major increases in wealth. and General Manager, Malayala Manorama, 35 'NRS-1995, National Readership Survey',
Kozhikode, April 2, 1993. photocopy of the 15 pages of initial results,
Finally, the effect of television on reading provided to me by the Audit Bureau of
8 ABC figures from A Preliminary List... and
habits in Kerala in the 1990s underlined the PAYB for appropriate years. Circulations, Bombay, in January 1996.
importance of lively, local, close-to-home 9 HIE, November 17, 1979, p 3. Punjab Kesari, the Hindi daily, was found to
content for successful mass media. Though 10 Interview, T N Gopakumar, Principal have the largest readership - 3.7 million,
doordarshan, the government-controlled Correspondent, India Today [hereafter IT], followed by Thanthi, the Tamil daily, with 3.6
Trivandrum, April 14, 1993. million.
national television network, had been
11 Interview, K N Nambisan, General Manager 36 Joseph Man Chan, National Responses and
available in Kerala since the early 1980s, its - Finance, Mathrubhumi, Kozhikode, Accessibility to STAR TV in Asia', Journal
production standards were poor, even in April 3, 1993. of Communication, Vol 44, No 3 (Summer
Hindi, the language in which most 12 Press in India, 1993 (hereafter PII) (New 1994), pp 112-31.
broadcasting is done. Production in Delhi: Ministry of Information and 37 Interview, V K Madhavan Kutty, Special
Malayalam was limited and uninspiring. The Broadcasting, nd [c 1994]), pp 92-93, lists the Representative, Mathrubhumi, New Delhi,
major shareholders. January 16,1994. Frontline, January 14,1994,
start in 1991 of STAR TV, a multi-channel
13 Interview, M D Nalapat, Resident Editor, The pp 82-83. Bl, January 31-February 13, 1994,
satellite broadcaster based in Hong Kong, Times of India, Bangalore, April 19, 1993. pp 143-44.
and the launch of Zee TV, a Hindi channel 14 Interview, M D Nalapat, Resident Editor, The 38 Interview, K M Roy, General Editor,
on the same satellite in October 1992, brought Times of India, Bangalore, April 19, 1993. Mangalam Daily, Kottayam, April 8, 1993.

21
Economic and Political Weekly January 4-11, 1997