Indian Media Over the Years

When it comes to electoral politics, media plays a key role in political marketing, for it is the
vehicle that enables people to access political viewpoints and vice versa. However, there is an
invisible factor that plays a key role, if not the most important role, and that is industry. If we try to
see the relation between the three major stakeholders of political marketing – industry, political
parties and people – the power equation will come across as a tussle between parties that yield
equal power. Given that political marketing works within the premise of promises, let us see what
connects the three. Industry, the first party satisfies the need of resources of the political parties and
need them in power for industry-friendly policies. Political parties need the popular mandate to
remain in power and address the needs and concerns of the industry. Therefore, it would not be an
exaggeration to say that the equation between the industry and the political parties together decide
the agenda that eventually is conveyed to the people through media.

Like several other things such as telegraph and railways, news media and photography too
was introduced in India by the British colonial rulers as a means to document the land they were
ruling. It was only natural that a medium as versatile as photography will proliferate and expand its
use. While photography in India began around 1850s through eminent photographers like Samuel
Bourne, Charles Shephard, John Murray and Felice Beato, among others, photojournalism has to
wait until the development of newspapers and magazines. Media, as we understand today, did not
exist then. What existed was a handful of periodic publication incepted by zealous and enlightened
people who wanted to present the facts from daily life to the literate section of the people.

James Augustus Hicky’s ‘The Bengal Gazette’ was arguably the first newspaper in India,
incepted in Kolkata (then Calcutta) on January 29, 1780. It was also popularly known as ‘Hicky’s
Gazette’ or ‘Calcutta General Advertiser’ and bore the tagline “A weekly political and commercial
paper, open to all parties, but influenced by none”. However, it incurred the wrath of the
government for mocking the then-Governor General of India, Warren Hastings, calling him “the
miserable successor of Lord Clive” – the printing press was dismantled and Hicky was imprisoned for
four months and imposed a fine of Rs. 500. Fortunately, Hicky’s fate did not seal the fate of Indian
media. The ‘Indian Gazette’ by B. Messink and Peter Reed started its journey in 1781, only 10
months after Hicky began publishing his newspaper. The ‘Calcutta Chronicle’ was published in 1786
while three more newspapers – ‘Indian Gazette’, ‘Calcutta Gazette’, and ‘Bengal Journal’ were
launched from Calcutta in next few years. The ‘Indian Herald’ published in 1795 by R. William and
Humphreys faced the wrath of the government for printing without permission and ‘gross libels’
against the government during its brief life.

Until late 1780s, the other two presidencies in India – Bombay (now Mumbai) and Madras
(now Chennai) did not have any newspaper. In 1785, Madras published its first newspaper ‘Madras
Courier’ followed by ‘Madras Gazette’ in 1795. Mumbai’s first newspaper the ‘Bombay Herald’
started in 1789 but merged with the ‘Bombay Gazette’ in 1791. The newspapers in Mumbai did not
have any conflict with the Government during the early period. However, the government was not
happy with the editor of the ‘Bombay Gazette’ for commenting on the conduct of the police but
soon after the newspaper obtained the exclusive patronage of the Government. Another English
newspaper published from Bombay was the ‘Bombay Courier’ that started publication in 1790. All
these newspapers were set up by British nationals, had low circulation, and none of them survive for
long.
Bengali Renaissance and Development of Press in 19th Century
The turn of the century saw the ‘Calcutta Gazette’ being published from Kolkata in March,
1814 by Francis Gladwin under the direct patronage of the Government. However, the first Indian
newspaper published by an Indian, Gangadhar Bhattacharjee was also named the ‘Bengal Gazette’
that was established in 1816 and lived for one year. The Baptist missionaries from Sreerampore, a
quiet town in West Bengal not far from Kolkata, were pioneer of vernacular press in India. The
Bengali weekly newspaper ‘Samachar Darpan’ started publication in May 1818 after the missionaries
tasted success with ‘Digdarshan’, a monthly Bengali magazine started earlier that year. They also
published ‘Friend of India’, a monthly periodical. In 1829, ‘Samachar Darpan’ became bilingual. By
December 1841, the missionaries decided to discontinue it as they could not find sufficient time, as
claimed by the then editor.

In the 1820s came the historic moment when Raja Rammohan Roy, the social reformer who
ushered in the Renaissance in Bengal, launched his own publications in three different languages:
‘Sambad Kaumudi’, a magazine in Bengali in 1821, ‘Mirat ul Akhbar’, a journal in Persian in 1822, and
‘Brahminical Magazine’ in English in 1822. Between 1821 and 1891, ‘The Reformer’, ‘The Enquirer’
and ‘Gyan Anveshan’ were other important publications and Raja Rammohan Roy, who is also
deemed the father of modern press in India, played an important role in their publication. He shut
down in 1823 to protest against the press regulations. The newspapers propagated his philosophies
and favoured liberalism and individualism. Roy’s appeal for purification of the society culminated in
the founding of the Brahmo Samaj and echoed throughout the century even after his death. Another
newspaper titled ‘Samachar Chandrika’ started publishing in 1821 by B. C. Bandyopadhyay, a
colleague of Raja Rammohan Roy. He parted ways after Raja Rammohan Roy started criticising the
Hindu religion for the social evils it promotes, as Bandyopadhyay believed tradition is sacred.

The social reform movement intensified after Raja Rammohan Roy and led to social reform
campaigns in the press as well where political reforms were less important until then. Nationalist
political thought influenced religious and social ideas that eventually helped modern journalism to
come to the being. The shaping of modern journalism in Calcutta came with a dynamic journalist
James Silk Buckingham in the early years of the 19th century who also became the Calcutta Journal’s
first editor. Buckingham condemned social customs such as sati, emphasised the conditions of the
local people and advocated an elected Indian Legislature which will have an equal number of Indians
and British members. He was against the idea of nominating people to the Indian Civil Service and
favoured open competition.

Vernacular journals in then Bengal published opinions on Hindu social customs, need for
medical education, local government, and philanthropy along with local and foreign news, shipping
intelligence and market prices as well as editorials against rival newspapers, public grievances and
criticism of government. The Indian press in Bengal and Bombay continued to function despite
official harassment and hostility – between 1831 and 1833, Bengal published 19 new journals riding
on the extension of English education among Indians and the increasing interest of British journalists
in Indian affairs. ‘Sambad Prabhakar’, Ishwar Chandra Gupta’s Bengali daily published in the first half
of the 19th century, was among the leading names. Dwarkanath Tagore started the ‘Bengal Herald’
and ‘Banga Doot’ in Bengali and extended financial assistance to many newspapers and saved them
from closing down.

Another remarkable achievement during this period was the publication of the first Hindi
newspaper, ‘Oodunt Martand’ in 1826 from Bengal, which was forced to close due to readership in
other provinces and high postal rates to reach the readers. Soon ‘Jami Jahan Numa’, a pro-
establishment newspaper took its place. An Anglo-Marathi newspaper launched by Bal Shastri
Jambhekar from Pune in 1832 became popular. Sir Charles Metcalfe who succeeded Lord Bentick for
a short period was a strong supporter of press. He favoured a uniform law for entire territory under
the East India Company. This helped the journalists to print without permission though made them
liable for punishment for printing seditious and defamatory material.

The Uprising of 1857 and Genesis of the Nationalist Press

By the time the uprising took place in 1857, the number of newspapers across India has
increased to 475. The events of 1857 created a sharp divide between the English, Anglo-Indian press
and the vernacular press. While the vernacular press sided with the ‘mutineers’, the English press in
India, akin to the British press, sympathised with the British women and children killed and suffered
atrocities during the uprising. This dialectic relation between the sections of Indian press was one of
the reasons of the genesis of nationalist press in the later half of the 19th century contributing to the
increasing awareness among the masses about the need to become united to act as one to achieve
freedom from the foreign yoke. Historian Bipan Chandra observes that in the period from 1870 to
1918, India saw emergence of powerful newspapers under distinguished and fearless nationalists
and the influence of the press extended far beyond its literate subscribers in cities and large towns.
The Indian press also fought several draconian laws promulgated by the British rulers to control
them including Censorship of Press Act, 1799 by Lord Wellesley, Licensing Regulations, 1823, Press
Act of 1835 or Metcalfe Act, Licensing Act, 1857, Registration Act, 1867, Vernacular Press Act, 1878,
Newspaper (Incitement to Offences) Act, 1908, and Indian Press Act, 1910.

Calcutta was the forerunner in the upsurge of nationalist press in India. In 1868, Shishir
Kumar Ghose and Motilal Ghose founded ‘Amrita Bazar Patrika’ and became an English newspaper
overnight to escape the Vernacular Press Act. Its stance was a sharp contrast to the English-owned
‘The Statesman’, incepted in 1875 by Robert Knight and a direct descendant ‘The Englishman’ (1811)
and ‘The Friend of India’ (1835). In Bombay, The Times of India was formed in 1861 after merging
‘Bombay Standard’, ‘Bombay Telegraph’ and ‘Bombay Courier’. In 1881, Punjab was born on the
media map of India with ‘The Tribune’ by Dayal Singh Majeethia. In the same year, veteran freedom
fighter Balgangadhar Tilak founded ‘Kesari’ in Marathi and ‘The Maratha’ in English. ‘The Hindu’ was
founded in 1878 in Madras by G. Subramania Iyer followed by Kerala where ‘Malayalam Manorama’
began publishing in 1890. The ‘Hindustan Times’ was inaugurated by Mahatama Gandhi in 1924 in
Delhi. The fact that these newspapers are some of the most formidable and respectable names in
the Indian media scene till date proves their importance and contribution to the society. Apart from
these newspapers, several other jumped into the fray as there was a surge in patriotic fervour in the
20th century with freedom movement gaining momentum. In 1900, ‘Bengalee’ began publication in
English with Surendranath Banerjee as editor, Bipinchandra Pal launched the ‘New India’ in English
and ‘Bande Mataram’ in Bengali in 1901, Barendra Kumar Ghose edited ‘Yugantar’ in Bengali in
1906, Madan Mohan Malviya set up ‘Leader’ in 1909.

Vernacular press too flourished riding this nationalistic sentiment. In Maharashtra, dailies
like ‘Sandesh’ reported at length the activities of the Home Rule league. ‘Sakal’, another Marathi
newspaper, started in 1931. The oldest Gujarati newspaper ‘Vartman’ started in 1849. The state
became the cradle of yellow journalism in India as the vernacular press was divided between the
Hindu and Parsi sections. Later, Mahatma Gandhi started a Gujarati weekly ‘Navjivan’ from
Ahmedabad that played a significant part in the freedom struggle and lent powerful support to the
non-cooperation and other programmes. In south ‘Dinamani’, launched in 1934, rivalled ‘The Hindu’
while ‘Mathrubhumi’ and ‘Kerala Kaumidi’ dominated Kerala along with ‘Malayala Manorama’.
Karnataka saw birth of press with ‘Mangaloora Samachara’ in 1843, followed by ‘Subuddhir
Prakasha’ in 1849 and ‘Suryodaya Prakashika’ in 1888. Some of the prominent names in Odia press
were ‘Utkal Deepika’, ‘Utkal Sahitya’, ‘Asha’ and ‘Samaj’ while Telegu press flourished with ‘Satya
Doot’, ‘Vivekavardhini’, ‘Andhra Patrika’, ‘Andhra Prabha’, and ‘Andhra Jyoti’. The first Hindi daily
‘Samachar Subha Varshan’ was published in 1854 followed by ‘Benaras Akhbar’, ‘Sudhakar’, and
‘Patrika’.

These newspapers, unlike their Anglo-Indian counterpart, did not shy away from publishing
the photography of anti-British political figures and narratives that countered the official version.
The ample opportunity of getting printed in the newspapers published by the nationalist press
opened a new horizon in the field of photojournalism in India.

Amid the technical developments taking place in the realm of photography, India was
initiated into photojournalism in 1903 when the then Governor-General Lord Curzon decided to
open the 1903 Delhi Durbar to be covered by visual journalists. Curzon’s aim was to draw the world’s
attention towards Delhi and he succeeded – 64 newspapers covered the Durbar. However, Narayan
Vinayak Virkar is considered the first Indian photojournalist. Virkar, who studied photography in
Lahore and worked as an X-Ray photographer, arrived at the scene soon after the massacre in
Jallianwala Bagh and took photographs that records one of the most tragic incidents of colonial
India. The photojournalism scene in India flourished with the advent of newer and lighter cameras
such as Rolleiflex, Speedgraphic, Leica, and Contax that allowed photographers to be more mobile.
Some of the most memorable Indian photojournalists are Sunil Janah, Kulwant Roy, Kishor Parekh,
and Homai Vyarawalla captured the birth of a nation and an India that was in transition.

While most of the popular and official images during the Raj were clicked by renowned
photographers such as Henri Cartier-Bresson and Margaret Bourke-White, the work of Indian
photojournalists remains unnamed and lie without credit. Sunil Janah’s career began in 1940 and
captured peasant and labour movements, the Partition, and the rapid industrialization and
urbanization following India’s independence. He captured the devastating Bengal famine in 1945
along with Margaret Bourke-White and the unrest surrounding the 1948 assassination of Mohandas
K. Gandhi. He was awarded Padma Shree in 1972. Kishor Parekh was the chief photographer for the
Hindustan Times since 1961 and was deeply influenced by the work of Henri Cartier-Bresson, Eugene
Smith, and Margaret Bourke-White. Photographer Kulwant Roy specialised as an aerial
photographer after his stint with the Royal Indian Air Force (RIAF) and introduced the idea of
syndicate through an agency named "Associated Press Photographs".

However, Homai Vyarawalla is India’s first woman photojournalist and one of the most
important names in the handful of photojournalists who documented the final leg of British rule in
India and the birth of the nation. Vyarawalla began her career during the second world war but the
works were published under a different byline because the concept of a woman photographer did
not exist. She is credited with taking as much as 10,000 photographs documenting a young India and
has inspired generations of photojournalists. Some other notable photojournalists in India are Pablo
Bartholomew, Raghubir Singh, Raghu Rai, and Dayanita Singh who have carried forward the legacy
while creating a mark for themselves.