History of journalism in india

1. History of Journalism
Freedom of the Press is a basic
pre-requisite of a democratic
setup.

2. History of Journalism is divided into
two phases
• Pre-Independence Period
• Post-Independence Scenario

3. (1) Pre-Independence Period
• 1780-1818 can be called a pre-history or
preparatory phase.
• Newspapers we know today are of European
origin and even there it did not take a proper
shape till the early part of the 18th
century.
• Wall Porter were the fore-runners of the
newspaper in the Europe.

4. • The Wall Porter first appeared in Venice, an
Italian city in 1566. They were called Notize
Secrette which meant ‘Written Notices’ and
were displayed in public places and a token
fee of a small coin called ‘gazette’ was levied
on those who wanted to read them.
• This supplied the name of the newspaper
(gazette). The word has come down to us
today.

5. • Chinese discovered the art of printing in 868 AD. In
1476, the first printing press was established in
England. In 16th
century newsletters came in London
and Italy both. It was of 8 pages. News book were
published in 1513. In 1621 a n/p appeared in
London. It was a primitive news sheet called
Coranto and it carried only foreign news. First
domestic news came in 1628.
• Primitive age ends.

6. • A new era of journalism was ushered with the
publication of ‘Oxford Gazette’ in 1655. It was the
first periodical to come very close to a true n/p, but
it was being printed twice a week. On March 11,
1702 the first daily newspaper appeared in London
‘Daily Courant.’
• James Augustus Hicky has the distinction of
launching the first n/p in India called ‘Bengal
Gazette’ or ‘Calcutta General Advertiser’ came out
on Jan 29 1780.

7. Newspaper are more than 222 years old. In
1780 James Augustus Hicky started ‘Hicky’s
Gazzette’
• The newspaper has
seen four distinct
phases:-
• I 1780-1857
• II 1857-1947
• III 1947-1975
• Gap due to
emergency
• IV 1977-Till Now

8. Post Independence Press
1947- Role of Press changed slowly
1947-After partition, 6 radio stations came up
in Bombay, Calcutta, Delhi, Trichy, Lucknow
and Madras
1951- The Press (Objectionable Matters) Act
reminiscent of earlier laws was passed by the Nehru
government
1951-52- The first national elections was covered by
the regional and national press
1956- The Press Act was allowed to relapse and the
first Press Commission was formed

9. 1952-54: The Press Commission made
Inquiry into the structure and
functioning of Press. One of the many
recommendations was for the
appointment of a Press Registrar and
setting up of Press Council
1964: A committee on broadcasting
and information media was set up
under the chairmanship of A.K Chanda

10. 1966- Separation radio and television
with two independent corporations
1967- Commercial service started called
Vividh Bharati
1976- Separation of Radio and
Television, TV was called Doordarshan

11. 1977- Janata government appointed a
working group
1982-Second Press Commission
recommended delinking of the Press
from its connections with other
industries. One of the major
recommendations was to set up a
National Development Commission.

12. Press censorship under Emergency
•Complete censorship was imposed only on
rare occasions as during Gandhiji’s arrest led
to countrywide disturbances and the detention
of over 60,000 persons
• Though some papers like the Bengali
weekly Jugantar, or the daily Sandhya were
banned in the thirties, they were published
secretly.

13.
• Restrictions were imposed on
the press during the Quit India
Movement of 1942, yet major
papers could publish the arrest of
national leaders and reports of
demonstrations and protests.

14. • In 1975, Mrs. Indira Gandhi clamped an
internal emergency. The government during
this time suppressed transmission of news by
imposing censorship on newspapers, journals,
radio, TV, telex, telegrams, news agencies and
on foreign correspondents. Even teleprinter
services were subjected to pre-censorship. The
censorship was total and unparalleled in the
history of press in India.

15.
• Even advertisements, cartoons and
comic strips were subjected to pre-
censorship.
• Foreign papers and journals were
confiscated if they carried criticism of
the Emergency, some issues of Time
and Newsweek were banned outright

16.
• More than 34 printing presses that
were operating underground were seized
and over 7000 people were arrested in
connection with the publication and
circulation of underground literature
• Underground literature flourished in
Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Maharastra and
Gujarat

17. • Few publications overtly opposed the
emergency despite stringent measures and
regulations: Sadhana (Gujarati), Himmat
(edited by Rajmohan Gandhi), Freedom First
(owned by M. R. Masani), The Statesman, The
Indian Express, Daily Murasoli (Tamil)
Tughlak (Tamil) and Radical Humanist.
Post-Emergency period too was witness to
attempts by the Congress Party to control the
press

18.
• 1984- Jagannath Mishra mooted the
Bihar Press Bill but protests by
journalists forced him to withdraw.
• 1987- Rajiv Gandhi initiated the Anti
Defamation Bill also met the same fate.
• VN Gadgil introduced the Right to
Reply Bill (1994) that was later
withdrawn

19. Modern Times
• Daily newspaper circulation is
approaching the 60 million mark
• According to the latest National
Readership Survey, there were
15,67,19,209 copies of newspapers in
India in 2004-05

20. 500 million Indian adults do not
read any newspaper among them
248 million literates or neo-literates

21. Robin Jeffrey’s on the growth of
successful newspapers in a
dozen Indian languages over the
past quarter century has
identified the following five
factors :

22. • 1. Improved technology which enables
the production and distribution of
larger number of more attractive
newspapers
2. Steadily expanding literacy
3. Expanding purchasing power
4. Aggressive publishing that is driven
by profit, power and survival and
seeks expansion
5. Political excitement