N arendranath Sen, etc.

inciud&
inst i
the Ht.
n e goveriime I he
|
1h
PresS
goverihient.

its
views
agains rress alal
expressing
in reform.
strong ofs o c i a l eformers,dleade
reformer

Press for ders ang

cause social
the greatmen, ders.
nt used Prese
took up India's
of
A
number

in the struggle
of
freedom
movemeni

they espoused.
Some of thesa furtherine
crusaders

and the
causes bn
Lo ath Baneriee
S u r e n d r a Nath Banerjee,
their philosophy
Lajpat Rai,
Annie Besant, their o
Ghosh, eminent journalists in own r
were
Gandhi
Mahatma liberation through joum
Tilak and
Tilak carried
for national
on struggle
Kesari and the English weekly
journalism
weekly lMara
Marathi weekly
He used the and economic subjects for the ed. ucation
political
for writing on social, Tilak used journalism for "DOR
and enlightenment
of the people. pular
education and public
agitation."

Journalist
Great Communicator and
Gandhi-The

helm of freedom movement changed

The emergence of Gandhiji at the
He shaped national movement and
the course of Indian history.
issues.
influenced public opinion on various
was probably the greatest
According to Chalapathi Rau : Gandhi
and edited were probably
weeklies he
journalist of all time, and the
ran

He published no
the greatest weeklies the world has known.
to run
advertisement; at the same time he did not want his newspapers where
at a loss. He had gained considerable experience in
South Africa,
anu
he had taken over in 1904 the editorship of the Indian Opinion
the pres
published it in English, Tamil and Gujarati, sometimes running
himself. Young India and Harijan became powerful vehicles of his vio
sion
on all subjects. He wrote simply and clearly but forcefully, with passu
id, i
and burning indignation. One of the objects of a newspaper, he sa
another
to understand the popular feeling and give expression to it; third
tno
to arouse among the people certain desirable sentiments, and
is fearlessly to expose popular defects. e n j o y e d vide

Gandhiji's papers published no advertisements. They enhiions

ambi
circulation. His approach to journalism was totally devoid of
To him it was not a vocation to earn his livelihood; it was a
serve the public. Writing in the Young India of 2 July 1925 ne *
 105
Print Media

aid to what
not for its sake but merely as an
up journalism
journ
have
taken up
1aken
to be my mission
in life. My mission is to teach by
conceived
I h a v ec onceived
the matchless
p r e s e n t under severe restraint the use of
and non-violence. To
examp

satyagrah
which is a direct corollary of
of or malice. I may
therefore, I may not write in anger
weapon

e
true to faith,
faith,
be excite passion.
merely to
not write to serve the people.
as a means
looked upon journalism
Gandhiji
in his autobiography:
He said is
of journalism should be service. The newspaper
"The sole aim
torrent of water submerges
power, but just as an unchained
a great even so an
uncontrolled
and devastates crops,
whole countrysides it proves
control is from without,
but to destroy. If the
serves when
pen
want of control. It can
be profitable only
than
more poisonous is correct, how
from within. If this line of reasoning
exercised test? But who would
of the world would stand the
many journals should be the judge?
The
that are useless? And who
stop those like good and evil, go
on together,
useful and the useless must,
man must make
his choice."
and

leader and social reformer,

Gandhiji
a national
Apart from being More than any one else,
he recognized
communicator.
was also a great tool to shapeopinion and
is the most effective
that communication
successful because he had a latent
He was
mobilise popular support. where he had gone
that surfaced in South Africa
skill in c o m m u n i c a t i o n communication
The practice of
as a lawyer. millions of
Initially to set up practice him the clue to rally
South Africa gave
Started by him in returned to India.
his countrymen when he for two of which he
was

associated with six journals,

Gandhiji was was started
in South Africa.
Indian Opinion
first
His paper, mobilise public
the editor. the grievances
of Indians and
interviews
in order to ventilate and giving
started writing
pinion in their favour, Gandhiji letters to the Editor,
Letters and
focussed on Open of
newspapers. He and the hospitality
occasional writings launched.
that he had
tSoon realized the political campaign
inadequate for so in June
1903 he
Spapers were out to the people;
to reach newsletter
e d e d a mouthpiece the purpose
of a weekly
launched Indian Opinion. It served week among the Indian community.
the news of the the columns
Ch disseminated instrument of
education. Through
sanitation,
a m e an important readers about
educate the
tried to
cnewspaper Gandhiji
Sel-discipline and good citizenship
 106 Handbook of.Journalism and Mass Communicati
Gandhiji launched satyagraha against the Rowlatt Act
massacre in Jallianwala Bagh. He had learnt in South and the
important the press and public opinion could Africa how
taught himself how to use the written word mostbe in politics and hhad
The two journals effectively.
Young India and Navajivan were used by him t
ventilate his views and to educate the
public on satyagraha. In 1933
Gandhiji started Harijan, Harijanbandhu and Harijansevak in English
Gujarati and Hindi, respectively. These newspapers the
of his crusade
were
vehicles
against untouchabilityand poverty in rural areas.
These
papers published no advertisements even then they enjoyed wide
circulation. His note of defiance and sacrifice
the evolution of Press as a
gave a new
stimulus to
weapon of satyagraha.
Today, when there is widespread concern over the
influence of market forces on media, and growing
no longer a social
regret journalism being
over
service, Gandhiji said: It is often
newspapers publish any matter that they have, observed that
The reason is that most just to fill in
space.
newspapers have their eyes on
There are newspapers in the west
which are
profits...
will be a sin even to touch
so ful of trash that it
them. At times, they produce bitterness
and strife even between
different families and communities.
newspapers cannot escape criticism merely because Thus,
people. they serve the
The Second World War
of the brought about a
change in the attitude
government towards newspapers. For the first time the
government agreed to self regulation
newspapers themselves, thereby avoiding bymuch organisations of the
the
by the government control. The two of the bitterness caused
formed were: The Indian and important newspaper organisations
and the All India Eastern Newspapers Society (IENS)
Newspaper Editor's Conference
Advisory Committee was formed with the (AINEC). A Press
result was that whatever assistance of AINEC. The
restrictions that
the
subsequent years were administeredwere to continue during
themselves or by independent by the press bodies
With the approval of authorities other than the
Independence Act in August 1947 government.
of Press changed. It had to shoulder the role
the new
reconstruction. India's first Prime responsibilities of national
Minister,
champion of the liberty of press. About the Jawaharlal Nehru was the
strengthening the Indian Press Chalapathi Rau contribution of Nehru in
independence, Nehru played a large part in says : In the period after
the Press, as Gandhiji had done before shaping all thinking about
by powerful sections of the Press, but heindependence. He was opposed
could carry on
easily because
 Print Media

of adult 107
he
was a oduct of
product suffrage, had mass appeal and vast
while newspapers still represented a small
segment of
majorities,
wh 1olerance and accepted that a vigorous opinion. But he
stooa
Stood
He was a
critical Press was a vital
part
democracy.
passionate defender of press freedom as of
allother
freedoms. The traditions which grew in his time
deep-rooted.
are
becoming
print media in India in recent years has made
The
Can now be compared with the best in the
rapid strides
world. The freedom of
the press being
a fundamental
right, as guaranteed by the Constitution
nder article 19(1%a), the people have made abundant use of this
The
right.
print media has played a very significant role in the democratic
nrocess. The mainstream press
India has been the front runner in
in

the issue-based investigative, interpretative and development reporting.

A detailed account of language, number and circulation of
dailies
andother newspapers taken together in 1998 is as under
Table 3. Number of Newspapers in 1999 (Language and
Periodicity wise)
Languages Dailies Tri/Bi Weeklies Fort Month- Quarter Bi-mon- Annuals Total
weeklies nightlies lies lies thlies
Halfyearlies
English 371 30 881 671 2,734 1,210 731 162 6,830
Hindi 2,305 125 9,609 2,878 3,180 589 185 33 18,903
Assamese 15 3 75 38 59 12 10 213
Bengali 99 14 94 494 681 458 169 17 2,526
Gujarati 118 11 776 182 492 58 47 14 1,698
Kannada 314 6 354 231 589 44 19 4 1,561
Kashmiri 0 0 0 0 0 0
Konkani 1 0 3 1 1 0 0 0 6

Malayalam 213 174 156 73 32 57 27 1,373

Manipuri 14 6 5 10 6 0 44
Marathi 346 20 1,108 189 504 110 41 113 2,431
Nepali 3 2 20 6 8 16 5 60
Onya 71 2 267 88 23 680
Punyab 107
142 83
32 18 849
Sanskrit 3
15 350 89 237
15 0 52
Sndhi 11
8 16
0 105
Tamil 0 38 35 8
8 1,863
352 22
euga
Uidu 151
43
3
93 227 786
480
32
26 12 2 1,106
245 187 2,803
3
Bilingual 519 20 1,317 361 506 60 17
34 2,679

Muhislingual
Aver
73
17
54
19
4
593
103
334
63
1,148
208
336
67
49
142
34 12
0
508
364
14 33 30 123
416 46,655
Source India5,157
2001. 337 16,872 6,240 12,796 3,273 1,564