8.

Press culture and nationalism

● In today's present era, we cannot imagine the modern world

without the press.
● Be it the field of knowledge or information, entertainment or
employment, the world is directly being governed by it.
● The importance of the invention of the printing press is like
fire, wheel and script in this material world, which with its
presence gave a new dimension to the lifestyle of the entire
world.

Block Printing- The method of printing paper by placing it on a

wooden block or board smeared with ink is called block printing.

History of printing till Gutenberg:

● In the early days of human civilization, man tried to record

what he saw in various ways according to his natural
intelligence and experience.
● Later he started applying his knowledge on various sheets.
In 105 AD, Tus-ply-lun (a Chinese citizen) made paper from
strips of cotton and muslin.
● The earliest technology of printing was developed in China,
Japan and Korea. By 712 AD it spread to limited areas of
China.
● By 760 AD, its popularity increased significantly in China
and Japan.
● Block printing now started being used in making pages of
books.
● The credit for the invention and development of printing art
goes to China .
● In 1041 AD, a Chinese man Pi-Sheng made clay coins.
 ● By the 16th century, as the number of examinees increased,
the amount of books printed also increased in proportion.
● By the 19th century, to meet the demand, Shanghai became
the new center of print culture and hand printing was
replaced by mechanical printing.

Johannes Gutenberg – Inventor of printing by means of type. He was

a resident of Mainz, Germany. He created the printing press in 1439 ,
which is considered a great invention. The Bible printed by him is
famous as the Gutenberg Bible.

Gutenberg and Printing Press:

● Born in Maninagar, Germany, to a farmer-landlord-merchant

of Gutenberg. He was familiar with oil and olive press
machines since childhood. With his knowledge and
experience, Gutenberg organized and collected the
historical research of printing art scattered in pieces and
systematically started work on making punches, matrices,
molds etc. for types.
● To make currency, he found a way to make suitable alloys
from lead, tin and bismuth metals.
● Gutenberg's historical research on printing a clear, cheap
and quick work began in the year 1440, when Gutenberg
received a contract to print the Bible from a goldsmith
named Fust .

Multidimensional impact of printing revolution

● The increase in the number of printing presses resulted in

an unexpected increase in book production. By the latter
half of the 15th century, approximately 20 million printed
books came to the European market. Whose number
increased to 20 crores by the 16th century.
 ● As a result of the printing revolution, books reached all
sections of the society.
● To increase literacy, books started being decorated with
interesting pictures, folk songs and folk tales. Earlier people
who used to acquire knowledge by listening can now do it
by reading also. Reading developed his logical abilities.
● Grateful towards print, Luther said - ' Printing is the greatest
gift given by God '
● The printing revolution exposed the less educated to
different interpretations of religion.
● Churches of different sects started educating the poor class
people by establishing schools.
● The writings of revolutionary philosophers offered a critique
of tradition, superstition, and absolutism.
● The social system based on tradition was weakened.
● Printing gave birth to a new culture of debate.

technological advances

● By the end of the 18th century, presses were being made of

metal. By the middle of the 19th century, Richard M. Ho of
New York had perfected the power driven cylindrical press.
With this, 8000 tabs could be printed per hour .
● By the end of the century the offset press had arrived,
making printing in six colors possible simultaneously.
● From the beginning of the 20th century, electric printing
presses started working rapidly.
● Books started reaching readers at affordable prices and
with interesting covers and pages.

Development of Press in India

● Before the development of the printing press in India, there

was an old and rich tradition of preparing manuscripts by
 writing by hand. Here, literature full of calligraphic art
containing numerous pictures from Sanskrit, Arabic and
Persian literature were being composed.
● The printing press was first brought to India by Portuguese
missionaries in the 16th century.

establishment of newspapers

● The modern Indian press began with the publication of a

newspaper by William Boltus in 1766 .
● In 1780 J. Of. Hickey started publishing a newspaper named
'Bengal Gazette' .
● 'India Gazette' published in November 1780 was the second
Indian newspaper.
● By the end of the 18th century Bengal started publishing
newspapers like 'Calcutta Courier', Asiatic Mirror and
Oriental Star, Bombay Gazette and Herald and Madras
Courier, Madras Gazette etc.
● In 1821 , 'Samvad Kaumudi' newspaper in Bengali and 'Mirat
Ul' newspaper in Persian started being published in 1822 .
The founder of these newspapers was Raja Ram Mohan Roy
who also made them a weapon of the socio-religious reform
movement.
● In 1822 , 'Dainik Bombay' news started coming out from
Bombay in Gujarati language.
● Bangadat was established in 1830 with the efforts of
Dwarkanath Tagore, Prasanna Kumar Tagore and Ram
Mohan Roy.
● Publication of 'Jaame Jamshed' started in 1831 , 'Goftar'
and 'Akhbare Saudagar' started in 1851 .

Features of Press – In changing perspective with time

 ● There were two types of press in India – Anglo Indian Press
and Indian Press.
● The nature and size of the Anglo Indian Press was foreign. It
was in favor of 'Divide and Rule' among Indians. It was a
strong critic of the efforts for unity between the two sects.
● The Anglo Indian Press was privileged. Government news
and advertisements were given to this. It had close ties with
the government.
● Indian presses published in English and other Indian
languages.
● In the 19th and 20th centuries, Rammohan Roy,
Surendranath Banerjee, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Dadabhai
Naoroji, Jawaharlal Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi, Muhammad
Ali, Maulana Azad etc. made the Indian press powerful and
effective.

Newspapers published and edited by Indians

● In 1858 , Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar started the publication

of 'Soma Prakash' as ​a weekly in Bengali. It strongly
supported the interests of indigo farmers.
● Keshav Chandra Sen published 'Sulabh Samachar' a daily in
Bengali.
● The Amrita Bazar Patrika has an important place in the
history of the press as an English-Bengali weekly in 1868
under the editorship of Motilal Ghosh .
● In 1878 , to avoid Lytton's Vernacular Press Act, it began
publishing in English overnight.
● Aurobindo Ghosh and Varindra Ghosh did the work of
spreading extreme nationalism in Bengal through Jugantar
and Vande Mataram.
● Independence in 1919 by Motilal Nehru , Hindi daily Aaj by
Shiv Prasad Gupta, K. M. Pannikar edited the Hindustan
Times in 1922 .
Role and influence of press in national movement

● Through the press, national leaders worked to spread public

awareness by exposing the exploitative policies of the
British Raj.
● The press did the work of conveying the widespread
dissatisfaction towards various types of British policies to
the government.
● The press raised its voice against the economic exploitation
of India by the British.
● In the field of social reform, the press continued to publish
critical articles on social conventions, customs,
superstitions and the influence of English civilisation.
● Gandhi's efforts in South Africa were mentioned in the
Indian press.
● Press played an important role in giving new direction to the
national movement of the country and also in nation
building.
● The work of removing social evils, establishing political and
cultural unity among the people of the entire country was
also done.

restrictions against the press

Several Acts were enacted to control the newspapers.

● Newspaper Correspondence Act of 1799 - Lord Wellesley

imposed censor on newspapers for fear of French invasion.
According to this act, the newspaper had to clearly print the
name of the editor, printer and owner.
● License Act of 1823- As soon as John Adams became
General in 1823 , he expressed his reactionary views in this
Act.
 ● Freedom of Indian Newspapers 1835-1823 Charles Metcalfe
emerged as the 'liberator' of Indian newspapers by
repealing the rule. This law continued till 1856.
● The Newspaper Act of 1908 – Against the policies of Lord
Curzon, the sentiments of fierce nationalism were rising. To
suppress them, the Newspaper Act of 1908 was passed.
According to this, the government could confiscate the
property of any newspaper which could inspire violence or
murder.
● Newspaper Act of 1951- In 1951 , by amending Article 19 (2)
of the Constitution of the Government and passing the
Newspaper Act, all the Acts so far were repealed. Through
the new law, the government could confiscate the printing
press for publishing objectionable topics. The publications
were given the right to demand examination by the jury.
This Act remained in force till 1956 .
● When many journalist organizations protested against this,
the government appointed Justice G. S. A press
commission was appointed under the chairmanship of the
Rajadhyaksha. It made many suggestions including the
formation of All India News Council in 1954 , which were
accepted by the government.

Role of Press in post independence India

● In the modern era, the press is the heritage of literature and

the rich consciousness of the society and newspapers and
magazines are the account of daily mobility.
● The press created a new consciousness in the society and
initiated a revolution in social, religious, political and daily
life.
● The press tried to remove the evil practices of the society
by raising the issues of social evils like dowry system,
widow remarriage, female infanticide, child marriage.
● It introduces the society to scientific research, scientific
equipment and tools. Journalists bring the boon and curse
of science to the society through events. So that common
people can also think in terms of world welfare.
● Today, as the fourth pillar of democracy, the press stands
before us as a vigilant sentinel to protect democratic
values.