The Role of the English Press in India

7/30/2019 The Role of the English Press in India

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Journalism explore the importance of the English Press and discuss its contribution to ourfreedom struggle. We s k l l trace Chi mle 6f the Pngl i~h. ress in Independent Indiaright up to the present day. Besides, we $SO list the char*teristics of theEnglish Press in India such as ownership, circulation, presentation of content, etc.We shall briefly mention the recommendations of the second Press Comm~ssionhathave a bearing on the improved functioning of the English Press.This will be followed by the unit on the role of the language press. You can thencompare the situation in,the English Press with that of the Language Press. In thethird unit, our thetne will be magazine journalism'. rh is will be followed by adescription of the professional organisations and statutory bodies in unit four. In thelast unit, we will study the various principles and ethics that are applicable in thefield of Journalism.

1.2 THE IMPORTANCE. O F THE ENGLISH PRESS -'

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F r ~ mour activity, did 901.1gather how important English Newspapers are in yourlocality? Well, let us compare it with the situation on the national scene: We are toldthat the circulation figure of English newspapers crossed 8.6 million in 1989. Fromthis we may conclude that English newspapers in India enjoy an impressivefollowing. In this context, we may mention a notable feature in the history of theEnglish Press in India. In 1965, when English was to cease being a principal languageof the country, English newspapers numbered more than.newspapers in any otherlanguage. They also claimed the largest share of the totaf circulation of all papers.

Activity 1Would you not like to find out if English newspapers are read widely by yourneighbours? In the first instance, visit ten families near your residence. Ask one ofthe members from each of these families,i) if they subscribe to any newspaperii) if they do, which language is it iniii) and how many members in the family know how to read, speak or write English.Do not forget to ask how many members there are in the household and the numberof females in the family. Also, find out if any one visits the libkary.Now, tabulate your findings in the table given below :1) Number of families which subscribe to an English newspaper..................2) Number of families in which at least one member pays a -';pit to the library toread an English newspaper .............3) Number of families where the literacy of the female rnernbc~~idnglish decided..................hether or not the family would subscribe to an English daily4) '.1n your survey are there more locavregional newspapers. in English than

national ones............... ,

,The English language newspapers deserve a strong mention in the story of India'sstruggle for freedom. And ever since Independence, they have acted as a beacon light. for the regional language press by setting high standards of professionalism inreporting and packaging of their content. Since circulation is a good measure togauge popularity, we may say that the English language newspapers are in greatdemand. Not so long ago they occupied the leading position in number andcirculation, followed by the Hindi newspapers. It is only from the early 1980s thatHindi newspapers have overtaken their English competitors in both number countand cotnbined circulation'. The readership profile of English language newspapersholds the reason for theif popularity. Government officials and the educated eliteform a considerable percentage of the readers. Important public matters that arediscussed threadbare in the English Press eventually have a bearing on policy


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governments at the centre, or in the states, have been either constituted or pulled. ' l ' l~eRole of the Ilr~~I ' r r s s h~ Indiadown because of investigative reports appearing in the English press. If a news itemin the newspapers is important enough, the Parliament or State Legislatures may beforced to discuss it imm ediately. An d if an election to a legislative body is due t o beheld shortly, then strong reports appea ring in the newspapers could affect the votingbehaviour of the people.In general, the English newspapers' style of reporting is good and therefore theyenjoy a high credibility. In addition, the people attach a lot of importance t o thesenewspapers' capacity to impart education in the English language. All this hascontributed to the wide readership of English newspapers.Ckch Ywr Progress 1Note : i) Answer the following in o ne o r two s4ntences each.ii) Com pare your answers with those given at the end of this unit.1) Why are English newspapers popular in India?

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2) Why i9 1965 the turning point in the success stdry of our English newspapers??...................................................................,..

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1.3 THE GROWTH OF THE ENGLISH PRESST o began with, English newspapers were published by Britishers in In dia,exp ressly toconvey news from Britain and Europe to t i o k residing here. The Christianmissionaries were am ong th e first to s tart newsp.aper$ in English. W ith a circulationof a few hund red copies per newspaper, the English press enjoyed popu lar sup portamong the readers from the initia1 stages itself.If the pruprietom of the newspapers were those who bad fallen from the grace of theofficers of the East India Company, they were likely to criticize the operations of thecompany in the subcontinent, in their papers. T o thisicategory belongs JamesAugustus H ickey, who takes the credit for having started the first English newspaperin British India, in the year 1780. Th e fitst English n w sp ap er in India was also thefm t newspaper in India.1.3.1 Origin in British IndiaHickey brought out the Btngml Gazette on Ja nuary 29, 1780. H e later renamed it asthe Oriental Calcutta General Advertiser. It appeared weekly, every Saturday. H eattacked the East India Company vigorously through his paper. Finally, when heindulged in casting aspersions on the wife of the then G overnor-General, W arrenHastings, he was forcefully deported o n the Governor-General's orders. A prominentmerchant by th e nam e of Jame s Silk Buckingham, was ano ther pioneer of Englishnewspapers in India. He started the Calcutta Journal aa its proprietor editor. Fr omOcto ber 2,18 18 till Novembe r 9,1823 (the day it ceased publication ), the p aperenjoyed uncommon popularity as it carried items of local Indian interest and did notplay favourites with any political party. Howe ver, o n March 1,1823, Buckinghamwas deported after Chief Secretary t o the G overnment; John Adams announced hisregulations on the free press by way of compulsory prep ublication licensing.Beogal Harkam, Friend of Indla and Bengal HwrMw e n other newspapers that werequite popula r in the beginning of the nineteenth antury.


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Bombay Herald was Bombay's first newspaper which was started in 1789. MadrasCourier was the first newspaper to be published from Mad ras in 1785. The firstregular venture of the natives in the field of English journalism was Refonner start edby Prasunna Coomar Tagare and Bholanath Sen in 1831. Earlier, in 1829, PrasunnaCoomar Tagore and Raja Ram Mohan Roy had invested in Bengd Herald alongwith three other Indians and one Britisher who was officiating as the editor. But, theauthorities would not entertain native association with any publication an d preventedthe Indians from running the Bengal Herald. The Refonner, however, was popularwith the Europeans as it carried moderate views. Prior to the amval of the Refonner,the first Indian-owned English newspaper appeared in 1816. It was called BengalGazette after Hickey's venture, and was owned by Gangadhar Bhattacharya.1.3.2 Contribution to India's IndependenceIn the nineteenth century, when just a few Indians were acqu ainted w ith the Englishlanguage, some educated leaders ventured t o publish English new spapers. Theirefforts were twice successful, as these publications put across the majority viewpointto the British rulers and also initiated British-influenced India ns into the freedomstruggle.Soon enou gh the fledgling press invited trouble in t he fonn of severe governmentrestrictions on the freedom of information and the right to criticize. Althoughlicensing was not required, registration of newspapers was made compulsory in 1835by Sir Charles Metcalfe, the interim Governor-General in Place of Lord WilliamBentinck. Licensing was reintroduced by an A ct in 1857. Th e Press and R egistrationof Books Act, 1867 was essentially directed againat the Vernacular Press. Aninteresting reaction to the Vernacular Press Act of 1878 which was promulgated byLord Lytton, is the case of the bilingual Amrlta Bazar Patrlka. It was beingpublished in Bengali and English when it suddenly converted itself into a n exclusively


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Leading mem bers of the elite in society enthusiastically co"tributed their views toIndian-owned English newspapers. This in turn generated tremendous suppor t forthe nationalist movement. While the government clamped restrictions on the Englishand Vernacular Press, those papers which were owned by Anglo-Indians wereexempted since they were not too critical of the British government.The struggle for freedom gained momentum in the last few years of the nineteenth. century, and this to a large extent was one of the views which appeared in Englishlanguage newspapers. M.K. Ga ndh i, who had regularly puyish ed Indian Opinionwhen he was in South Africa, continued to bring out the paper even after returningto India. In addition, he started its sister publication, H a a m . Gandhiji exhorted thepress in general to suppo rt the struggle for freedom a nd t o continue to ap pea r evenin the form of handwritten pamphlets in case the printing equipment wasconfiscated. The English press responded to the call to fight for a free India. Duringthe Civil Disobedience Movement, the Press (Emergency Powers) Act, 1931 wasenforced. In spite of the constraints, the English papers continued to criticize theBritish governm ent fearlessly.Several newspapers which started with the singular purpose of giving a boost to thenation's struggle for freedom have survived to this day. T o name just a handful ofsuch papers, we have the examples of centenarians like The Times o f India ofBomh ay (1838). Amrita Bazar Patrlka of C alcutta (1868), T b Statesman of Calcutta(1875), The Hindu of M adras (1878), The Tribune of Ch andigarh (1881). The yearmentioned within brackets indicated the year of first publication.The Pioneer of Allahabad, Madras Mail of M adras and the Civil and Military Gazetteof Lahore were very much in the forefront, pr2rjding quality news reports. One mustmake mention here of Annie Besant's New fndia, which carried some fiery editorialsin its time.In general, all the English newspapes used forceful language and senled to direct andorganize the energies of the people who then moved nearer to their aim of selfgovernance.The Indian-owned newspapers were cheaper than the British-owned ones. Naturally,this fact benefitted the former category in terms of increased sales.The single-minded manner in which the English newspapers rallied around to free thenation from the imperialist hold is a lesson in itself. Never since, has any other goalenthused the entire English press enough to raise the profession to the height of amission.

TIIC Role of the EnglishPress In 111dla


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1.3.3 Post-Independence RoleThe role of the English press in the 1950s was necessarily shaped in response to theimmediate needs of development and modernization. In a newly democratizedcountry, the Indian press had the responsibility of educating the masses about theintricacies of the function ing of the adm inistrative, legal and o the r departme nts ofthe government. All this the press had to do in addition to the task of promotingcommunal h a r m o ~ v the wake of the count ry 's par t it ion into ~ ak is ta n nd IndiaThe notable feature of the newspapers at this time were:

a marked increase in ciiculation,greater collection of advertisement revenue,modern equipment and expanded facilities of reporting from distant locations,and

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the ap pearance of features an d colum ns with by-lines.As the government emphasized planned economy, the volume of economic news thathe English papers carried, multiplied. The press stressed the importance of economprogress and interpreted the government's goals for the people.For the most part, news agencies were the source of news. According to oneestimate, as much a s 22 per cent of all non-advertising space in English languagenewspapers was devoted to foreign news which was obtained from the wire newsservices.When Ind ia was at war with Pakistan (in 1965 and 1971) and Chin a (in Qctober,1962), the English press did a commen dable job of defending the cou ntry'ssovereignty. The pop ulat ion 'boom' was another area that the mass media had t oaddress head on. The English Press was not lagging on this front either. It wasimperative, to contain the growth in popu lat ion then, as i t cont inues to be now ,some three decades later.$he imposition of Emergency in 1975 by the government headed by M rs. Ind iraGandhi marked the beginning of the hard times. There were severe restrictions onthe freedom of the press. The English Press was mu zzled, especially the o utspok enjournalists and the papers they wrote for, during the two years of the Emergency.The freedom of the press has been deb ated quite vigorously in recent times. Thesecond Press Comm ission has discussed it in detail in its report. T he issue hasiirvariably been the imposition of government regulations versus self-regulation bythe press.Chain Publications, quite familiar on the Indian Press scene, have come to stay. Bythe 1980s, "chain" newspapers were a trademark of those publishers who notch edremarkable circulation figures for their grou ps of papers a nd periodicals. T he ideawas to use the profits of any publication for the numerical expansion of the group.Th e general trend h as been to view journalism as a profit mak ing industry. There isan urgent need to change this attitude.In the early years of the 1990s, the go vernment's economic measures of liberalizatioand integration of the country in the global economy are issues that have beenreceiving amp le coverage in o ur English dailies. Besides, the disturb ing trend ofreligious intolerance is constantly commented upon, in our English newspapers.

Check Your Progress 2Note : i) Answer in abo ut two sentences each.i i) co d pa re .y o ur answers with those given at the end of this unit .1) Name the first English newspaper in India an its owner.......................................................................2) Name the first Indian to own a n English newspaper.

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3) Which areas of concern have been receiving the attention of the English -1newspapers in recent times?.......................................................................4 ) What were the characteristics of English newspapers immediately afterIndependence?.......................................................................5 ) In a democracy, what part should the newspapers play for keeping it alive?

.......................................................................Activity 2Select issues of any three English newspapers on a given day. Compare the items onthe front page of these three papers. You may choose any other page instead, say thesports page. Jus t make sure that there are comm on stories. Now, compare theheadlines of three news items in one'newspaper with the headlines of the same storiesin the other two newspapers. Reading of the Entire story is necessary in fruitfullypursuing this activity. Weigh the words in every headline on the basis of what eachword implies. The n decide if the headline is 'pro-event' o r 'anti-event'. En ter yourdecision on the headline for or against the event in this table.

Item-1 Pro or I tem-2 Pro or . Item-3 Pr o orAnti . Anti Ant i- -Newspaper-1INewspaper-I1

P Newspaper-I11*

Fr om your observations, d o these newspapers appe ar to be holding the same viewsregarding each event?

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Th e Role of the EnglishPress in Ii~tlia


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Deccan Chronicle of' Hyderohad, M.P. Chronicle of Bhap al, The Tribune ol 'Chand igarh, The H itarada of' Nagpur and Deccan Herald of Bangalore are someexamples of reglon;~ln c u .;>;lp ers n English.UNESCO has und erl~n cd he imp ortance of newspapers as educators by stating thatin this audio-visual age, the daily paper still remains the primary means of educatingthe citizen.Newspapers h# J C long been viewed as econom ic enterprises w ith good monetaryreturns. BesiJ;s circulation revenue, advertising revenue is important in meeting thecost of preiucrron and in mak ing profits. Managerial skills are required to run thenewspaper concerns efficiently,just as in any o ther business.As fo r content, newspapers have contributed a great deal towards making the peoplemore politically conscious. Further, no newspaper can claim to be neutral orapolitical. Jn com men ts on v arious issues o n the editorial page, the biases a ndprejudices are all too ev id at . But even in respect of reporting events in the news:olumns, there is a discsrnible tendency t o support' or reject one side of the argum entor the other in any news item. In the words they use and in what they say by using.hese selected words, newspapers all the while tend t o *su ppo rt: his, or th e otherstance. Some newspapers d o it in a subtle way whereas othefs are blatant. Was thisyou r conclusion too afte r you completed you r activity 2?The generaLtrend which is apparent is on e of increasing sophistication in.rhegpackaging and presentation of news. Th e news is segregated on t he basis of the topicreferred to. It is then printed on separate pages such as foreign, national, regional,local, sports, economy, edit page, etc. Neat a nd attractive get-up of the newspaperhas been made possible by modem printing technology.1.4.1 Ownership-The Plreaolneear of Newspaper ChainsThere are different types of ownership of newspapers. These may be classified asnewspapers owned by individuals, societies and associations, firms or partnerships,joint stock com panies, government (centraw state), cooperative societies, educationalinstitutions, international organizations, political parties, companies-public andprivate, etc. Comm on o wn ership Units are among the m ore prominent types ofownership. Th e Office of the Registrar of Newspapers for Ind ia (R NI ) defines theCom mon Ownership Unit (COU ) as a newspaper establishment ow ning two or m orenews-interest newspapers of which at least one is a daily.Leading examples of comm on ownersh ip Units are Bennett Coleman and Co. Ltd.,Indian Express (Pvt.) Ltd., Ananda Bazar Patrika (Pvt.) Ltd., Hindustan Times &Allied Publications (Public Ltd.), St ates ma n (Pu blic Ltd.), K asturi & Sons (Public Ltd.),Only the English dailies which these CO Us publish are mentioned below:Bennett Coleman & C o.Indian Express (Rrt.) Ltd.Ananda Bazar PatrikaHindustan Times & AlliedPublications

Times of India,Economic TimesIndian Express,Financial ExpressAnanda Bazar Patrika,TelegraphThe H industan Times

Statesman Ltd. StatesmanKasturi & Sons The HinduA 'Big units is defined by the RNI as a news-interest newspaper of a COU with acirculation of more than 50,000 copies.Language-wise, with reference to circulation of English dailies, the RNI has given thepercentage sh are of newspapers brough t out by different units as in 1989. Givenbelow is a list of some of the big units with their percentage share in the circulationof English dailies indicated alongside:


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THE TIMES

'The Rde o f th e EnglishPress in Indla

Bennett Coleman & Co. 18.8%Express Newspapers 14.3%)Kasturi & Sons 9.w6Hindustan Times & Allied PublicationsBlitz Pu blicationsStatesman Ltd. 3.5%Ushodaya Publications 4.3%Tribune Trust 4.1%,Ananda Bazar Pa t r ika 4 . l b

\The second Press Commission has, in its report of 1982, strongly recommended thedelinking of the press from itponnections with other industries. In the context ofindustrialists venturing into printing of newspapers with a profit motive, somemembers of the commission pointed out the need to have j~urnalists nd theirnewspapers independent of any influence from th e barons of industry. With this inmind, it was suggested that either the owners of newspapers who were involved withothe r business an d indus tries, delink themselves from the latter, o r else severe theirconnections with the press.The Com mission als o took a serious view of the lack of 'diffusion' in thepresentation of news. In a marketplace of ideas where every possible point of viewmust be projected, it is in the best interests of the readers t o free the press "from thesteamrolling of the commercial process so that it may mean m aximum am oun t offreedom of expression for the maximum number of people". It is precisely because ofthe close hold the press barons have on a majority of daily ntwspapers that thecontent of newspapers they own, subserves their other mon etary interests. Th e'conte nt would in that sense reflect less of fairness, accuracy, Objectivity, balance andtruthfulness in the interpretation a nd presentation o f news to the readers. Themajori ty of newspap ed are ow ned by Join t Stock Com panies and provide views andanalyses which benefit their other economic ventures. Thus, commercial interestsoperate a nd extend i nto the areas of newspaper content.:


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Jourlla~rssn ' 1.4.2 Content of English NewspapersEnglish newspapers address'key issues of the day, some in a parpcularly outspokenfashion. In the scramble to boost'both tce readership and circulation the commonstrategy that have evolved is to fulfil a variety of needs of readers. Specializedwriting on subjects such as culture and arts, tourism, women, ch~ldren. ealth.science and technology, law, architecture, education, sports, the media, polit~calanalysis, etc., is the order of the day. Entire pages or sections of pages are devoted tothese topics. Some newspapers bring out supplements on diff-erent days of the weekon some of these subjects. Now, there are papers exclusively concerned w~th inanceFinancial Express and Economic Times are examples of th ~ sype.Despite the fact that there is a greater variety In the contents of newspapers today,politics and politicians still seem to receive too much attention. Besides, in somenewspapers, there is a tendency to sensationalize negative events. For instance,occurrences of dowry death and rape receive prominent mention. There is a lack ofadequate effort oh the part of newspapers to provide any constructive solution(s) tothe many social problems that are plaguing our society.By and large, however, it can be said that the English newspapers measure wellagainst the time-tested standards of objectivity, credibility, balance and accuracy.The style of writing in English newspapers has changed over the years. We do nothaye any more long verbation reports of speeches. News reports are short and thewriting is lively. The days of long editorials are also over. There is more and morestress on interpretative and investigative reporting. Analytical writings on manyimportant issues are now available. A wide variety of features which are readable.Ieducative and entertaining are being published by most English newspapers. TheEnglish newspapers are also discharging thetr responsibility of giving a boost to thegovernment's schemes to bring about planned economic development.The contribution of the English newspapers in adding to the general awareness of thepopulation has been considerable. For instance, the importance of exercising one'sright to vote has been realized by a large section of our literate populat~on. ngeneral, the newspaper-reading population has become quite aware of their rightsand responsibilities.

IOne can see that the English newspapers are full of lively, interesting stories. Theycontain something of special interest for every reader. While every edit~on f thenewspaper provides varied fare, the Sunday issues car;? exclusive supplementsdevoted to reviews of books, the arts, the media, etc. Sunday newspapers are popularwith the readers as much for thelr reading material as for their classifiedadvertisements whether for accommodation, employment or matrimonials.1.4.3 Presentation of Content in English NewspapersMuch research has gone into studying the most effective types of presentation thatmakes for easy-on-the-eye reading. Designing a newspaper has risen to the status ofa fine art. Specialists are recruited by the newspaper organization to design thepages, to suggest appropriate make-up and to make the pages more appealing inappearance. Newspaper designing has come a long way from the days when scantyor no particular attention was paid just by clubbing the news items into distinctcategories.Every newspaper has a distinct personality of its own that sets it apart from otherpapers. It is important for the paper to retain its identity while at the same timecome out with a fresh look everyday. Typography is an important factor indetermining the appearance of the newspaper. Careful selection of the types forheadlines and text is essential. Appropriate use of photographs, line drawings, graphsand other ilIustrations enIivens the text attention of the reader. Pocket cartoons arepopular with the readers. For example, R.K.Laxman's 'You Said It' in The Times ofIndia delights readers daily.The front page is the most important in a newspaper. Items of greatest importance


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accommodated on the fro nt page and as a consequence some of the items have to be 'I'he Hole of the Englishshifted to an inside page. For this reason, the front page is one of the last to be I'rns hl 1111linmade up. The design of the front page is important because it must be attractiveenough to induce people to buy it off the news stands.The S unday papers carry additional pages that come as colour supplements. Colourphotographs, advertisements, illustrations and comic strips are all presented in a veryappealing fashion.1.4.4 Recommendations of the Second Press CommissionIn this sub-section, we shall mention those recommendatiobs of the Commission.which have a bearing o n the English press. In sub-section 1.4.1 on 'ownership' wehad mentioned the recommendations of the Commission to delink the press fromindustry an d its call for greater diffusion of ideas in our society. The Commissionmade it clear that it views journalism not merely as an indu stry but as a publicservice and profession. It observed that public interest should be the criterion toregulate the news and views of the newspaper and not ownership, as is usually thecase.The Second Press Commission desired that a National Development Commission(NDC) be constituted to promote the entire Indian press rather than just individualpapers in select languages. Further, the NDC was to set up advisory councils foreach language with more than one body for languages like Hindi, English 'and Urdusince they are m ulti-state languages. The ND C was to extend its assistance especiallyto small and medium newspapers for the development of printing and othertechnologies suitable for them. Besides, it was to help provide common distributionarrangements for newspapers that are published in hilly and remote areas.One of the major recommendations of the second Press Commission was to specify aprice-page schedule and a news-to-advertisement ratio. The latter was fixed at 60:40for big papers, 5 05 0 for medium a nd 40:60 for small newspapers. This was suggestedin order to help 'promote competition and prevent monopoly of a few newspapers'.

b The Commission, viewing display advertising as a wasteful expenditure, called forcurtailment of such advertising.While commending the increase in investigative reporting, the Commission pointedout the lack of follow-up of such reports.The N DC was to extend financial assistance to small and m edium newspapers.Besides, the NDC would appo int an autonom ous corpo ration t o oversee the fair andequitable distribution of both government and foreign advertisements.You qriU read other recomm endations of the Commission in Unit 3, Block 5 , Course 1

Check Your Progress 3Note : i) Answer the following questions in two or three sentences each.

ii) Com pare your answers with those given at the encfof this unit.1) Name any three national English newspapers.

) What would be the characteristics of a good regional newspaper?.............................................................................................................................................


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.) Name a n y l ~ v e egional newspapers in English.

.....................................................................4) Why is the sectional format important in a newspaper?

.......................................................................5) Name the Comm on Ownership Unit with the largest share of circulafon of

I English dailies. Which are the newspapers of the COU that contribute to this1 status in circulation?...................................................................................................................................................................................................................6) By what stand ards would one measure the content of a newspaper as worthy?

-.5 SOME VALUABLE FACTS ABOUT OUR ENGLISHPRESSThe Registrar of Newspapers for India (RNI) gave its first estimate about the pressin India in 1957. Th e total num ber of newspape rs an d periodicals in all languages inDecember 1957, was 6903 with a total circulation of 112.60 lakhs. By comparison, in1M9, th e English press alone boasted of 4727 newspapers with a combined circulatioof 86,75,000 copies. Th e increase in circulation has been trem endous and indicatesseveral positive factors suc h as the development of reading habits, increase inpurchasing pow ei of the people, priority given to English newspapers, the credibilityof the English press, etc.1.5.1 Classification of NewspapersNewspapers are classified on the basis of their circulation into Big, Medium andSmall newspapers. A newspaper with a total circulation of upto 25,000 copies on anpublirhing day is called a 'small newspaper'. A newspaper with a total circulation o25,001 to 75,000 copies on a publishing day is considered as 'medium newspaper'. Atotal circulation of 75,001 to 99,999 copies on any publishing day entitles anewspaper to be called a 'big newspaper'. N ewspapers with a circulation of o ne lakhan d more ar e also deemed 'big newspapers'. Th ere are ten English dailies withcirculations above one lakh each.Her e are some examples of 'Big Newspapers' alo ng with their circulations for theyear 1989. Please note that the figures pertain only t o the new spaper's edition fromthe place of publication.Th e circulation figures of the newspapers given here do not include a paper's oth ereditions.

Newspaper A publishing day'scirculation in 1989Times of India, Bombay 312612Indian Express, Bombay 115776


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Journalism1.6 LET U S SU M U PIn this unit, we have studied the origin and-growth of the English Press in India.Englieh newspapers began as a means of conveying ~ u r o ~ e a news to the Britishenliving in India. Eventually, Eiiglish newspapers became a tool in the hands of Indiannationalists working towards Independence. One cannot discount the importance ofEnglish newspapers in the present day India. They are instrumental in conveying tothe people political, social, economic and other news. We have discussed the role ofthe English wwspapers in the years immediately after Independence in 1947, whenrestoration of communal harmony was high on the country's agenda. Thegovernment's Plans for the economic development received much needed supportfrom 'the English press, by way of interpretative and analytical writings on the goalsof development, industrialisation and modernization. The English press never failedin addressing itself to issues that dominated the decades from the 1953s to the 1980ssuch as the education of the masses regarding the working of a democratic systemand the dangers of uncontrolled increase in population. It played a valuable role increating a sense of sd idar~ ty mong people in times of war and explaining to them inpeace time the governments complex economic reforms.

We have studied the ownership pattern of English newspapers i n d noted theobservations of the second Press Commission with regard to the 'chain' newspapers.We have also noted the changing trends in content and presentation of news in ourEnglish newspapers. Finally, we have also looked at the latest circulations of ourEnglish newspapers.

1.7 FURTHER READINGK h h n a Murthi, Nadig (1966) Indiaa Journalism-Origin, Growth and Development ofIndYan J o m d is m mo m Asoka to Nehru, Prasaranga, University of Mysort, Chapter-XII, Rau, M. Chalapathi (1974) The Press, Nat~onalBook Trust, New Delhi.Wolseley, Ro1and.E. (1954) Journalism in Modern India, Asia Publishing House,Bombay.

Press in India (1990), Thirty-fourth annual report of the Registrar of Newspapers forIndia, Publications Division, Ministry of ~nformation nd Broadcasting, Govt. ofIndia, New Delhi, pp 183-85.

Report of tbe Second Press Commission (1982), Publication Division, Ministry ofInformation and Broadcasting, Govt. of India, New Delhi, Volume 1.

1.8 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS :MODEL ANSWERSCheck Your P r o g m 11) The thorough approach of English newspapers in their reporting, their high

credibility, the wide readership of English newspapers among governmentpersonnel, have alf enhanced their popularity.

' 2 ) It had been decided in the Constitution that the government would discontinuethe recognition of English as an official language from 1965. Since this decisionwas never implemented, English newspapers had all the advantage to grow apartfrom the popdarity of the English language itself, in the educational andadministrative systems.


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Check .Your Progress 2 II) James Augustus Hickey started the first English mwspaper. in India in 1780 andcalled it the Bettgal G a Wt e . He later changed its Lame to Oriental CalcuttaGeneral Advertiser.-

2) Gangadhar Bhattacharya was the first Indian to own an English newspaper. Hecalled his paper Bengal Gazette and started it in 1816.

3) The economic reforms of liberalisation and the tragedy of communal violenceare topics that have received much attention in our kinglish newspapers in the lastfew years.

4) There was a marked increase in their circulation, greater collection ofadvertisement revenue, use of advanced printing technology, appearance ofvaried features and columns with by-lines for the first time.

5 ) Newspapers can y the responsibility of keeping democracy alive. They educatethe people about the procedures of electing a governing body, about thegovernment's goals and the ways in which the people can help to achieve thesegoals. Moreover, giving all shades of opinion a chance to be heard in the'marketplace of ideas', does prove to be beneficial to democracy.

Check Your Progress 3I j The Times of India, Indian Express and The Hindu are three national Englishnewspapers. They are national in character as they carry news of national

relevance. Also, they command good readership and circulation in different partsof the country.I ) A newspapers which reports regional matters, highlights local people and theirways of life, is a regional newspaper. I1 3) The Tribune, Deccan Herald, Deccan Chronicle, M.P.Chronicle, The Hitavada. I4) Almost all English newspapers segregate the news and publish it under separatesections such as foreign, local, sports, business, opinion, etc. This helps to directthe attention of the reader to all important news of a particular kind on onepage itself. This is a neat presentation or packaging of news.

5) Bennett Coleman & Co. with 18.8% of circulation of English dailies, shared byits newspapers The Times of India and Economic Times. I

6) Balance, Accuracy, Objectivity, Credibility are time-tested standards by which tomeasure the worth of any newspaper's content. ICheck Your Progress 41) The Hindu/The.Times of IndidIndian Enpress

i ) Bangalore3) Maharashtra14 ) Delhi I5) Chandigarh

The Role of the fi~glisl,Press 81 India

The Role of the English Press in India

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