historyofjournalism-

7/29/2019 historyofjournalism-

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History of Journalism

Freedom of the Press is a basic

pre-requisite of a democraticsetup.


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History of Journalism is divided into

two phases

Pre-Independence Period

Post-Independence Scenario


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(1) Pre-Independence Period

1780-1818 can be called a pre-history or

preparatory phase.

Newspapers we know today are of Europeanorigin 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 thenewspaper in the Europe.


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The Wall Porter first appeared in Venice, an

Italian city in 1566. They were called Notize

Secrette which meant Written Notices and weredisplayed 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.


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Chinese discovered the art of printing in 868 AD. In

1476, the first printing press was established in

England. In 16th

century newsletters came inLondon 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. Firstdomestic news came in 1628.

Primitive age ends.


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A new era of journalism was ushered with thepublication of Oxford Gazette in 1655. It was thefirst periodical to come very close to a true n/p, butit was being printed twice a week. On March 11,1702 the first daily newspaper appeared in LondonDaily Courant.

James Augustus Hicky has the distinction oflaunching the first n/p in India called BengalGazette or Calcutta General Advertiser came outon Jan 29 1780.


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Newspaper are more than 222 years old. In

1780 James Augustus Hicky started HickysGazzette The newspaper has

seen four distinct

phases:- I 1780-1857

II 1857-1947

III 1947-1975 Gap due to emergency

IV 1977-Till Now


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Post Independence Press

1947- Role of Press changed slowly

1947-After partition, 6 radio stations came up inBombay, 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 theregional and national press

1956- The Press Act was allowed to relapse and the first

Press Commission was formed


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1952-54: The Press Commission made

Inquiry into the structure and functioning ofPress. 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 thechairmanship of A.K Chanda


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1966- Separation radio and television withtwo independent corporations

1967- Commercial service started calledVividh Bharati

1976- Separation of Radio and Television,TV was called Doordarshan


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1977- Janata government appointed aworking group

1982-Second Press Commission

recommended delinking of the Pressfrom its connections with other

industries. One of the major

recommendations was to set up aNational Development Commission.


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Press censorship under

EmergencyComplete censorship was imposed only onrare occasions as during Gandhijis 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 werebanned in the thirties, they were published

secretly.


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Restrictions were imposed on

the press during the Quit India

Movement of 1942, yet majorpapers could publish the arrest of

national leaders and reports of

demonstrations and protests.


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In 1975, Mrs. Indira Gandhi clamped

an internal emergency. The governmentduring 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. Thecensorship was total and unparalleled in

the history of press in India.


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Even advertisements, cartoons and

comic strips were subjected to pre-

censorship.

Foreign papers and journals wereconfiscated if they carried criticism

of the Emergency, some issues of

Time andNewsweekwere banned

outright


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More than 34 printing presses that

were operating underground wereseized and over 7000 people were

arrested in connection with thepublication and circulation of

underground literature

Underground literature flourishedin Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Maharastra

and Gujarat


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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)

andRadical Humanist.

Post-Emergency period too was witness

to attempts by the Congress Party to

control the press


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1984- Jagannath Mishra mooted theBihar Press Bill but protests by

journalists forced him to withdraw.

1987- Rajiv Gandhi initiated the AntiDefamation Bill also met the same fate.

VN Gadgil introduced the Right to

Reply Bill (1994) that was later

withdrawn

i


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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 inIndia in 2004-05


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500 million Indian adults do not

read any newspaper among them248 million literates or neo-literates


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Robin Jeffreys on the growth ofsuccessful newspapers in a

dozen Indian languages over thepast quarter century has

identified the following five

factors :


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1. Improved technology which enables

the production and distribution oflarger number of more attractive

newspapers

2. Steadily expanding literacy3. Expanding purchasing power

4. Aggressive publishing that is driven

by profit, power and survival andseeks expansion

5. Political excitement

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