History of Journalism

Freedom of the Press is a basic

pre-requisite of a democratic
setup.
 History of Journalism is divided into
two phases

• Pre-Independence Period

• Post-Independence Scenario
 (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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
 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
 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
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
 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
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.
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.
         
•        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.
 •   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.
          
• 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
      
• 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
 •        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
        
•  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
 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
 500 million Indian adults do not 
read any newspaper among them 
248 million literates or neo-literates
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 : 
• 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