Advent of journalism in India

- Mohan Sinha
The Early Ages: Written communications
 Edicts and proclamations
 Agencies were created to inform people
 Agencies also kept rulers informed
 Message of social and economic reforms
 Machinery developed to keep rulers informed
about people
 Information on famine or other events
 First it was memory and then it was in writing
 The Town Crier
The Ashoka Period
 Sources of information included:
 Spies
 Secret overseers in every department
 Departmental reports
 Reports from monasteries on socio-
religious activities
 Birth of the Newsletter
The Mughal Era
 News writers appointed
 Sent reports to HQ of the administration
 Exclusively for official use
 Writers worked in collusion with admin to
prepare favourable reports
 Reports copied for circulation to officers
 Manuscript newspapers
 Kept officials informed
 Aurangzeb’s failure blamed on poor feedback
Newspapers in the 18th Century
 William Bolts
 Attempt to launch made in 1776
 Threatened to reveal EIC misdeeds
 Forced to leave India
 First attempt at publication proved
abortive
Newspapers in the 18th Century
 Bengal Gazette Calcutta General Advertiser
 Launched in 1780 by James A Hicky
 More of a rag
 Concentrated on gossip about officials and GG
 Did not enjoy a good reputation with EIC
 Was fined and jailed on two occasions
 Went bankrupt because of fines
 Was forced to cease publication
Newspapers in the 18th Century
 India Gazette – Started in 1780 by Messink
& Reed
 The Calcutta Gazette - Published in 1784
under Government patronage
 Bengal Journal – 1785
 Oriental Magazine of Calcutta Amusement –
Monthly
 Calcutta Chronicle – both in 1786
 None wanted to antagonize the government
Newspapers in the 18th Century
 Madras Courier – Launched in 1785 by Richard
Johnson, a govt. printer
 Hurkaru- Launched in 1791 by Richard Boyd,
ex-editor of Madras Courier.
 Ceased publication on Boyd’s death in 1792
 Madras Gazette – launched in 1795 by R.
Williams
 India Herald – Published without authority by
Humphreys. He was arrested and deported.
Jumped ship and escaped
Newspapers in the 18th Century
 Censorship first introduced in Madras in
1795
 All general orders of the Government
published by madras Gazette were required
to be submitted to Military Secretary before
publication
 Free postage facilities were levied at
delivery end
 They were charged postage for protesting
censorship
Newspapers in the 18th Century
 The Bombay Herald – Bombay’s first
newspaper launched in 1789
 The Courier – launched in 1790. First
paper to carry Gujarati adverts.
 Bombay Gazette – Launched in 1791.
Merged with Bombay Herald in 1792
 All papers still continued to favour the
government
Newspapers in the 18th Century
 In 1791 William Duane acquired The Bengal
Journal and became its editor
 Quit as editor as he published the rumoured
death of Lord Cornwallis. Launched Indian World
in 1791
 Was raided thrice by the Government and told to
proceed to England
 Demanded an audience with Sir John Shore, GG
and was invited home only to be arrested!
 Sent home along with his three adopted children
 Bengal Harkaru –Launched in 1798 by Charles
Maclean
Newspapers in the 19th Century
 Rigid control by Wellesley in first two decades
 Controls relaxed by Hastings
 Mandatory to carry name of printer, editor and
proprietor
 Censorship still prevalent but many editors
ignored it
 Role of Christian missionaries – Churches
established in India after 1813.
 Newspapers like Asiatic Mirror used to spread
Christianity
The first Indian newspapers
 Bengal Gazette – Launched 1817 by Gangadhar
Bhattacharjee lasted a year
 The Guardian – Launched in 1818 by John
Burton & James Mackenzie as a Sunday paper
 Serampore missionaries launched three
magazines
 Bramhanical Magazine – launched by Raja Ram
Mohan Roy published in English
 Sambad Kaumudi in Bengali
 Mirat-ul-Akhbar in Persian
The Metcalfe Act – 1860s
 The Sepoy Mutiny resulted in more
stringent restrictions
 Regulated printing of newspapers that
printed “dangerous” articles
 Papers were warned under the
“Gagging Act”
 Many ceased publications in protest
Indian newspapers: The Big Three
 Amrit Bazar Patrika – Launched in 1868
 Times of India – launched in 1861 after
merging of Bombay Times, Courier, Standard &
Telegraph
 The Hindu – Launched in 1861
 Other Newspapers
 Hindu Patriot, The Statesman
 Indian Mirror, Shom Prakash, Sunday Mirror,
Tattvabodhini Patrika
 Bombay Samachar, Jam-e-Jamshed & Rast Goftar –
all in Gujarati
Nature & impact of Press restrictions
 1823 Regulations
 Printing of books, papers and use of
presses without licences prohibited
 Penalty for infringement was fine of Rs
1,000 commutable to 6 months
imprisonment without labour
 Magistrates empowered to attach and
dispose of unlicensed printing presses as
well as presses functioning after recall
Nature & impact of Press restrictions
 Conciliatory trends set by Raja Ram Mohan Roy
 Mirat-ul-Akhbar – Restrained in its language and
constructive in its criticism
 Dealt with social and administrative evils in India
and England
 Critically examined British policies in India & UK
 Paper’s objective was to enlighten the public for
social empowerment and to communicate to the
rulers the issue that troubled the people
Nature & impact of Press restrictions
 Vernacular Press Act 0f 1878
 Indian newspapers kept out of trouble by
not publishing political stories for 7 years
 Mirat-ul-Akhbar ceased publication and
severed connections with Sambad Kaumudi
 English language paper were warned
frequently, except Calcutta Journal and
Calcutta Chronicle
Nature & impact of Press restrictions
 Lord Bentinck’s Press Policy
 Liiberal attitude towards press
 The issue of Sati – 1830
 The pros and cons
 Abolition of Sati
 Hindus decried interference
 16 new newspapers came into existence
in 1830
Nature & impact of Press restrictions
 Macaulay’s views on Freedom of the Press
 Metcalfe invited Macaulay to draft Press Act
 Macaulay watered down most of Metcalfe’s
regulations
 Licensing regulations should be repealed
 Uniform Press laws throughout the country
 Retained authority to stop printing seditious
articles
 Retained authority to refuse licenses
Nature & impact of Press restrictions
 Vernacular Press Act of 1878
 In 1876 Lord Lytton invited opinions on improving
relations between Government and Press
 Suggested setting up of a Press Bureau with a
director who would:
 Keep himself informed about of writings of every
journal
 Answer queries from the Press
 Maintain a constant & continuous relationship with
the Press
 Indian media was surprised and hoped it would
not impair press freedom
Provisions in the Press Act
 Seditious articles, libel against Govt
 Libel on government officers
 Contemptuous observations on the
administration of justice
 Libels on character of Europeans
 Libels on Christians and Christian
governments
 Suggestions and insinuations
Provisions of the Vernacular Press Act
 Empowered any magistrate or PC
 To call upon the printer and publisher of a newspaper
to sign a bond not to publish certain kind of material
 To demand security and forfeit it of presses that
violated the provisions of the Act
 To confiscate any printed material it found
objectionable
 The accused printer or publisher could not approach
the courts
 Office of director abolished
 124 newspapers wanted Press Director reinstated
 Press Act abolished in 1882 by Lord Ripon
Indian newspapers
 Pre-Independence – Fought the
British
 Post-Independence – Press lost its
Moorings
 How do they treat the Government -
friend or foe?
 The Emergency - 1975-1977