Evolution of Mass Media

UNIT 7 LANGUAGE JOURNALISM IN INDIA

Structure
7.0 Introduction
7.1 Learning Outcomes
7.2 Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC)
7.3 Registrar of Newspapers for India (RNI)
7.4 Indian Readership Survey (IRS)
7.5 Newspaper Circulations as per First Press Commission of India Report
7.6 Top ten highest circulated dailies of India as ABC figures
7.7 Top twenty dailies of India as per IRS 2017
7.8 Hindi
7.8.1 Dainik Jagaran
7.8.2 Hindustan
7.8.3 Amar Ujala
7.8.4 Dainik Bhaskar
7.8.5 Rajasthan Patrika and Patrika
7.8.6 Prabhat Khabar
7.8.7 Punjab Kesari

7.9 Malayalam
7.9.1 Malayalam Manorama and Mathrubhumi

7.10 Gujarati
7.10.1 Gujarat Samachar
7.10.2 Sandesh

7.11 Bengali
7.11.1 Ananda Bazar Parika

7.12 Tamil
7.12.1 Dina Thanthi
7.12.1 Dinakaran
7.12.3 Dinamalar

7.13 Telugu
7.13.1 Eenadu
7.13.2 Sakshi

7.14 Marathi
7.14.1 Lokmat
7.14.2 Sakal
102 7.15 Indian Language News Agencies
7.16 Let Us Sum Up Language Journalism in India

7.17 Further Readings

7.18 Check Your Progress: Possible A nswers

7.0 INTRODUCTION
Non-English journalism of India is usually known as Indian language journalism.
Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannad, etc. are the
major Indian languages in which daily newspapers with very large circulation exist.
At present the total circulation of Indian language press is many times more than
that of English press.
Rise of literacy in India, increase in per capita income, and adoption of modern
communication technology, including printing technology, by the press in the country
have been major factors for the tremendous rise of circulation of Indian
newspapers.
High circulation and readership help newspapers to get more advertising revenue
which is their life line. To attract advertisers the tendency to inflate circulation
figures has been widely prevalent among many newspapers.

Activity 1
Before you start going through this Unit, please ask your newspaper supplier
two questions:
 Which are the top selling Indian language daily newspapers you sell?
 How would you compare them with the circulation of English dailies?
In order to verify his claim you can put the same questions to some other
newspaper vendors of your area.In this way you will have a fair idea of
Indian language newspapers and that of English papers.

7.1 LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of this Unit you would be able to:
 describe the role and importance of ABC, RNI and IRS;
 cite the major Indian language daily newspapers and news agencies; and
 analyse the growth of Indian language journalism.

7.2 AUDIT BUREAU OF CIRCULATIONS (ABC)

Before independence there was no method to check the circulation claims of
newspapers. In 1948 Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) a non-profit voluntary
organisation came into existence. It certifies circulation figures of its member
publications.
Before that newspapers publishers found it difficult to convince advertisers of the
relative values of their publication for the purpose of advertising. It is with this 103
Evolution of Mass Media background that eminent representatives of the advertising and publishing fields
came together to establish ABC which could serve their common interest.

7.3 REGISTRAR OF NEWSPAPERS FOR INDIA

(RNI)
In 1956 Registrar of Newspapers for India (RNI) was set up by the Government
of India on the recommendation of the first Press Commission of India (1952 –
54). All dailies and periodicals are required to have registration with RNI. They
are also required to submit their periodic returns on circulation numbers. However,
the office RNI has modest or insufficient machinery for taking up cases of circulation
verification every year of every periodical including dailies.

7.4 INDIAN READERSHIP SURVEY (IRS)

In 1995 Indian Readership Survey (IRS) was launched for a thorough research
with modern techniques on getting insights of readership of newspapers and
consumer behavior patterns. The objective was to better understanding to help
advertisers to find right newspapers for their specific products.
Indian Readership Survey (IRS) 2017 indicates the growth trajectory of Indian
language press. It was conducted by The Readership Studies Council of India
(RSCI) and Media Research Users Council (MRUC) who released the survey
report in January 2018.
One should also know that previously government was the biggest advertiser, but
now private companies have emerged as big advertisers. Moreover, since now all
big newspapers have their e-editions and can also be read on mobile phones, they
may get advertisements from Google as per the clicks they score.
Check Your Progress 1
Note: 1) Use the space provided below for your Answers.
2) Compare your answers with those given at the end of the unit.
a) Who recommended for the setting up of the of RNI?
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b) What was the period of the first Press Commission of India?
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c) When was ABC established?
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d) Name the organisations who conducted Indian Readership Survey? Language Journalism in India

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7.5 NEWSPAPER CIRCULATIONS AS PER FIRST

PRESS COMMISSION OF INDIA REPORT
Following tables give an overview of the circulation tendencies of Indian newspapers.
Table1 indicate data of newspaper circulation as obtained by first Press Commission
of India (1952-54).
Table 1:
List of daily newspapers (with circulation more than 10,000 copies) as
given in Report of the Press Commission of India (Part III-Appendices),
published by Manager of Publications, Government of India, Delhi 1954,
pages 146 to 160)
(* Indicate ABC figures; in other cases figures are those given by the publisher
of the daily.)
Bengali dailies Circulation
Ananda Bazar Patrika, Calcutta (now know as Kolkata) 90,011 copies
Basumati, Calcutta (now know as Kolkata) 21,000 copies
Janasebak, Calcutta (now know as Kolkata) 13,362 copies
Jugantar, Calcutta (now know as Kolkata) 80,953 copies
Lokasevak, Calcutta (now know as Kolkata) 14,487 copies
Satyayug, Calcutta (now know as Kolkata) 13,061 copies
English dailies Circulation
Amrita Bazar Patrika, Calcutta (now know as Kolkata) 53007 copies
Amrita Bazar Patrika, Allahabad 20,614 copies
Deccan Herald, Bangalore (now known as Bangaluru) 11,238* copies
Evening News of India, Bombay (now know as Mumbai) 11,415 copies
Free Press Bulletin, Bombay (now known as Mumbai) 12,430* copies
Free Press Journal, Bombay (now known as Mumbai) 34,748* copies
Hindu, Madras (now known as Chennai) 65,748* copies
Hindustan Standard, Calcutta (now known as Kolkata) 37,672 copies
Hindustan Standard, Delhi 13,815 copies
Hindustan Times, New Delhi 48,141* copies
Indian Express, Madras (now known as Chennai) 42,684* copies
Indian Nation, Patna 19,808* copies
Mail, Madras (now known as Chennai) 34,115 copies
National Standard, Bombay (now known as Mumbai) 12,321* copies
Pioneer, Lucknow 10,411* copies
Times of India, Bombay (now known as Mumbai) 87,002* copies
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Evolution of Mass Media Tribune, Ambala 17,290 copies
Statesman, Calcutta (now known as Kolkata) 48,411 copies
Statesman, New Delhi 16, 591 copies
Gujarati dailies Circulation
Mumbai Samachar, Bombay (now known as Mumbai) 28,901 copies
Gujarat Samachar, Ahmedabad 13,200 copies
Jai Hind, Rajkot 11,267 copies
Janmbhumi, Bombay (now known as Mumbai) 16,653 copies
Prabhat, Ahmedabad 12,000 copies
Sandesh, Ahmedabad 22,364 copies
Hindi dailies Circulation
Amrita Patrika, Allhabad 12,072 copies
Aryavarta, Patna 18,123 copies
Hindustan, New Delhi 21,463 copies
Jansatta, Delhi 12,700 copies
Nav Bharat Times, Bombay (now known as Mumbai) 11,521 copies
Nav Bharat Times Delhi 11,680 copies
Navrashtra, Patna 17,309 copies
Rashtradoot, Jaipur 10,561 copies
Vishwamitra, Calcutta (now known as Kolkata) 25,571 copies
Kannada dailies Circulation
Prajavani, Bangalore (now known as Bangaluru) 10,595 copies
Samyukte Karnataka, Hubali 12,449 copies
Malayalam dailies Circulation
Desabandhu, Kottayam 17,970 copies
Desabhimani, Kozhikode 10,000 copies
Express, Trichur 11,100 copies
Kerala Kaumudi, Trivendrum (now known as Thiruvanathapuram)16,159 copies
Malayala Manorama, Kottayam 22,025 copies
Malayalarjyam, Quilon 14,826 copies
Mathrubhumi, Kozhikode 25,736 copies
Powaradhawani, Kottayam 14,500 copies
Marathi dailies Circulation
Chitra, Bombay (now known as Mumbai) 19,500 copies
Lokmanya, Bombay (now known as Mumbai) 13,074 copies
Loksatta, Bombay (now known as Mumbai) 43,406 copies
Navashakti, Bombay (now known as Mumbai) 26,098 copies
Sakal, Poona (now known as Pune) 27,262 copies
Oriya dailies Circulation
Prajatantra, Cuttack 18,507 copies
Samaj, Cuttack 22,030 copies
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Tamil dailies Circulation Language Journalism in India
Dinamani, Madras (now known as Chennai) 44,455 copies
Dinamani, Madurai 20,524 copies
Nava India, Coimbatore 11,010 copies
Swadeshmitran, Madras (now known as Chennai) 39,509 copies
Dina Thanthi, Madras (now known as Chennai) 16,834 copies
Dina Thanthi, Madurai 13,610 copies
Telugu dailies Circulation
Andhra Patrika, Madras (now known as Chennai) 23,086 copies
Andhra Prabha, Madras (now known as Chennai) 54,084 copies
Visalandhra, Vijaywada 17,166 copies
Urdu dailies Circulation
Asre Jadid, Calcutta (now known as Kolkata) 10,000 copies
Daily Tej, Delhi 11,262 copies
Hind Samachar, Jullundhur 10,540 copies
Milap, New Delhi 15,000 copies
Pratap, New Delhi 14,099 copies
Rozana Hind, Calcutta (now known as Kolkata) 10,000 copies
Sathi, Patna 11,151 copies
Vir Bharat, Delhi 15,844 copies
Analysis of Table 1: The Table 1 indicates that during that period there were
19 editions English dailies having more than 10,000 circulation, whereas there
were only nine editions Hindi dailies having that circulation figures. In other languages
the number of such dailies was less than that.

7.6 TOP TEN HIGHEST CIRCULATED DAILIES

OF INDIA AS ABC FIGURES
Before independence English press had the highest circulation, but that situation
has changed now. Indian language press has the highest circulation, as is clear
from the following Table
Table 2: Highest circulated Indian dailies amongst ABC members as
per ABC figures (Across languages)

Sl.No. Daily Language Average qualifying sales

newspaper (Jan – June 2017)

1 Dainik Jagaran Hindi 39,64,064

2 Dainik Bhaskar Hindi 37,58,949

3 Hindustan Hindi 27,35,252

4 Times of India English 27,16,291

5 Amar Ujala Hindi 26,62,855

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Evolution of Mass Media
6 Malayalam Malayalam 23,88,886
Manorama

7 Eenadu Telugu 18,62,018

8 Rajasthan Patrika Hindi 17,84,142

9 Dina Thanthi Tamil 16,57,318

10 Mathrubhumi Malayalam 14,32,568

Analysis of Table 2: The table indicates that as per ABC figures, among the
top 10 newspapers of India only English newspapers could find a place. Rest nine
dailies are from Indian language press. Among the Indian languages, Hindi press
is on the top in terms of circulation of newspapers.

7.7 TOP TWENTY DAILIES OF INDIA AS PER

IRS 2017
Table 3: Top Twenty Dailies of India
Indian Readership Survey Report 2017 Report (released in January 2018)
Newspaper Language Total Readership
(Urban + Rural)

1 Dainik Jagaran Hindi 7,03,77,000

2 Hindustan Hindi 5,23,97,000

3 Amar Ujala Hindi 4,60,09,000

4 Dainik Bhaskar Hindi 4,51,05,000

5 Dina Thanthi Tamil 2,31,49,000

6 Lokmat Marathi 1,80,66,000

7 Rajasthan Patrika Hindi 1,63,26,000

8 Malayalam Malayalam 1,59,99,000

Manorama (Daily)

9 Eenadu Telugu 1,58,48,000

10 Prabhat Khabar Hindi 1,34,92,000

11 Times of India English 1,30,,47,000

12 Ananda Bazar Patrika Bengali 1,27,63,000

13 Punjab Kesari Hindi 1,22,32,000

14 Dinakaran Tamil 1,20,83,000

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 Language Journalism in India
15 Mathrubhumi Malyalam 1,18,48,000

16 Gujarat Samachar Gujarati 1,17,84,000

17 Dinamalar Tamil 1,16,59,000

18 Sakal (Daily) Marathi 1,04,98,000

19 Sandesh Gujarati 1,03,52,000

20 Patrika Hindi 98,23,000

Analysis of Table 3: As per IRS Report 2017 not a single English daily could
find a place among the top 10 newspapers of India. Among the top 20 newspapers
Times of India is the only newspaper that finds a place there. Among the above
mentioned 20 newspapers eight are in Hindi language. Hindi newspapers have
maximum readership followed by Malayalam and others.
Check Your Progress 2
Note: 1) Use the space provided below for your Answers.
2) Compare your answers with those given at the end of the unit.
a) As per first Press Commission report 1952-54 which Malayalam daily had
the maximum circulation?
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b) As per first Press Commission report 1952-54 which Tamil daily had the
maximum circulation?
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c) Name the English daily which appear both in Table 2 and Table 3?
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Evolution of Mass Media d) Name the Hindi dailies which have maximum readership as IRS 2017?
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Activity 2
Before reading this Unit further, please seek the answer to the following
question from consumer in your neighborhood and community:
(For Reader of Indian language dailies).Please tell three reasons why you
prefer to purchase Indian language daily?
(For Reader of English language newpapers)Please tell three reasons why
you prefer to purchase English language daily?
(For both Indian language and English language dailies)Why do you buy
two newspapers one in Indian language and one in English?
The responses will tell you why Indian language newspapers sell more than
English ones.

7.8 HINDI
The spurt in quality and circulation of Hindi newspapers began only after the end
of internal emergency (1975-1977) in the country. Until 1975 there was not a
single Hindi daily outside Delhi which could claim a circulation of even one lakh
copies. It is an astonishing fact that even in those days Hindi was spoken by more
than 250 million people of India, the Hindi dailies were much behind English,
Bengali and Malayalam newspapers. It was rather a disgrace that Uttar Pradesh
the heart of Hindi India and the land of Bhartendu Harishchand, Munshi Prem
Chand, Baburao Vishnu Paradkar, Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi, etc., could not
produce a single daily which could claim a circulation of one lakh copies. What
went wrong? Why were Hindi newspapers not the preferred ones?
Just after independence lingua franca of the ruling elite class in Delhi was English,
despite the fact that there were a large number of Hindi speaking population. Top
political leadership was more accustomed to English language than Hindi.
Rajendra Mathur, a distinguished Hindi journalist, wrote three articles on Hindi
journalism in Times of India, New Delhi, which were published on its edit page
from 12 to 14 May 1982. In those articles Mathur wrote, “Nehru and Premchand
were contemporary, but they were not connected. Could one ever imagine a
Bengali leader not being aware of, not paying due obeisance to Tagore? In
Maharashtra, Tilak was a journalist, a thinker, an educational reformer and a
cultural leader in his own right. In Hindi two streams were somehow not correlated.
(Top) leaders were barely aware of creative writers. …”
He further wrote, “But at a lower tier, there was a flourishing liaison between
second rate Congress leader and second-rate Hindi journalist. … But second-
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rate camp followers of the second rate political leaders can hardly be expected Language Journalism in India
to create first-rate journalism.”
Many of these factors were operating in many other languages of India, but in
recent years this situation has changed. Top political leaders of ruling class speak
in Hindi in India and sometimes abroad too. In their speeches they quote from
Indian poets like Subramania Bharati, Tagore, Kabir and spiritual leaders like
Mahrishi Aurbindo, Swami Vivekanand, etc. This all has cast a positive effect on
Indian languages and increased their respectability. Indian language newspapers
now have a role in opinion making and setting national agenda. Previously this role
was the exclusive zone of English language media.
Some languages like Tamil, Malayalam, Bengali, etc. were more fortunate than
Hindi, as their prose was not that young as that of Hindi (Khari Boli). Before the
advent of Hindi (Khari Boli), there were Awadhi, Brij Bhasha, etc. Hindi (Khari
Boli) is a rather recent language of not more than two and a half centuries old.
India’s first Hindi newspaper Udant Martand started publication from Kolkata
(then known as Calcutta) in 1826. After that some other papers and journals in
Hindi were launched from that city. However, journalism does not flourish in guest
territories. For example, Bengali journalism will flourish in Bengal, Malayalam in
Kerala, Tamil in Tamil Nadu, etc. Hindi journalism could flourish only in the Hindi
belt of India. Our Hindi belt is very vast and covers so many states of the country
and constitutes the largest population segment of India. As indicated in above
Table 2 and 3, Dainik Jagaran, Hindustan, Amar Ujala, Dainik Bhaskar, Rajastan
Patrika, Prabhat Khabar, Punjab Kesari, Patrika, etc. are some of the important
Hindi dailies of India.

7.8.1 Dainik Jagaran

Dainik Jagaran, was brought out by freedom fighter Mr. Puranchandra Gupta
from Jhansi in 1942. It shifted its headquarters to Kanpur in 1947. Its edition
was launched from Kanpur in the same year. The Rewa and Bhopal editions were
added in 1953 and 1956. In 1975, publication of Gorakhpur edition started,
followed by Varanasi, Allahabad and Lucknow in 1979. In 1984, Meerut edition
was launched, followed by Agra in 1986, Bareilly in 1989 and Delhi in 1990.
Between 1997 and 2006, eighteen new editions were added: Dehradun, Jalandhar,
Hissar, Patna, Moradabad, Aligarh, Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Dhanbad, Bhagalpur,
Panipat, Haldwani, Ludhiana, Muzaffarpur, Jammu, Dharamshala, Indore and
Siliguri. Again from 2007-08, six new editions were launched from Patiala, Bhatinda,
Mathura, Rae Bareilly, Ayodhya and Haridwar.
Narendra Mohan,one of the sons of Puranchandra Gupta, made the newspaper
a grand success. The paper is owned by a public limited company that is listed
with the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
Jagaran group once also brought out an English daily, named Daily Action, but it
was not successful and the paper was closed down.

7.8.2 Hindustan
Hindustan was founded in 1934. Hindustan has about two dozen editions across
the Hindi belt. They are spread across Delhi, Haryana (Faridabad), Bihar (Patna,
Muzaffarpur, Gaya, Bhagalpur and Purnea), Jharkhand (Ranchi, Jamshedpur and
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Evolution of Mass Media Dhanbad), Uttar Pradesh (Lucknow, Varanasi, Meerut, Agra, Allahabad, Gorakhpur,
Bareilly, Moradabad, Aligarh, and Kanpur) and Uttarakhand (Dehradun, Haridwar,
Haldwani).
The paper is published by Hindustan Media Ventures Limited. Earlier it was part
of HT Media Ltd group. It has sister English dailies Hindustan Times and Mint.
7.8.3 Amar Ujala
Amar Ujala was founded in 1948 in Agra by Dorilal Agarwal. It was a small
paper then. However, slowly it grew as one of the largest circulated dailies of
India. The editions of the newspaper are published from Uttar Pradesh, Jammu,
Haryana, Delhi NCR, etc. It has a sister paper Amar Ujala Compact, which is
a tabloid newspaper with a refreshing mix of topics from both national and
international news to sports, technology and entertainment. Amar Ujala has its
headquarters in Noida.
7.8.4 Dainik Bhaskar
Dainik Bhaskar Group, has 66 editions published in 4 languages across 12 states.
The major newspapers by the group are Dainik Bhaskar (Hindi daily), Divya
Bhaskar (Gujarati daily), Dainik Divya Marathi (Marathi daily), Saurashtra
Samachar, DB Post (English daily) and DB Star. Dainik Bhaskar’s marketing
strategy has been very different from others and it gave tough fight to Rajastan
Patrika in Rajasthan. Moreover, its Divya Bhaskar (Gujarati daily) established
itself in Gujarat in tough competition with other leading Gujarati papers, Gujarat
Samachar and Sandesh.
Here it will not be out of place to mention that once Times of India started its
edition in Gujarati language, but they had to close down the paper, since they
could compete with Gujarat Samachar and Sandesh.
The Group also publishes magazines; Aha! Zindagi (a monthly family magazine in
hind), Bal Bhaskar (Hindi magazine for kids). Listed on the Bombay Stock
Exchange, the group is majority-owned by the Bhopal-based Agarwal family.
The Group also runs 30 radio stations across 7 states of India, under the brand
name 94.3 MY FM. This is the fifth largest radio network in India. Existing
stations are based in Ahmadabad, Ajmer, Indore, Nagpur, Amritsar, Jaipur, Jabalpur,
Gwalior, Chandigarh, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Kota, Bhopal, Bilaspur, Raipur, Surat,
and Jalandhar.
The Group has recently been awarded with licenses for 13 more new stations.
New stations include Aurangabad, Nasik, Jalgaon, Sangli, Akola, Nanded,
Ahmednagar, Solapur, Rajkot, Bikaner, Hissar, and Karnal.
7.8.5 Rajasthan Patrika and Patrika
Rajasthan Patrika was founded by Karpoor Chandra Kulish in 1956. It is published
as Rajasthan Patrika in Delhi and Rajasthan, and as Patrika in other states. In
Rajasthan the paper has editions from Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kota, Gangapur City and
13 other cities.
It has also editions from several cities of Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya
Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Previously this paper had editions only from Rajasthan,
but after the arrival of Dainik Bhaskar in the state the paper had to look for other
centres of publication and it expanded its wings in other states.
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Both Rajasthan Patrika and Patrika are owned by Rajasthan Patrika Pvt. Ltd. Language Journalism in India

7.8.6 Prabhat Khabar

Prabhat Khabar is a Hindi daily of Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal. The
newspaper is circulated in several states in India, including Bihar, Jharkhand, West
Bengal and some parts of Orissa. It was founded in August 1984 in Ranchi which
was then part of Bihar and later became the capital city of Jharkhand. It has a
very strong presence in Jharkhand. The newspaper is notable for reporting social
issues and revealing scams. Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Fodder Scam was exposed by
Prabhat Khabar. The newspaper began reporting the Fodder Scam in 1992.
Despite receiving threats, the newspaper wrote 70 reports on the scam and had
four or five reporters reporting the story. It also exposed the corruption of Madhu
Koda, ex Chief Minister of Jharkhand. Koda was later jailed.

7.8.7 Punjab Kesari

Punjab Kesari is a Hindi-language newspaper published from many centres in
Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi in India. It is owned by
the Punjab Kesari group (The Hindsamachar Ltd.). It is one of the four newspapers
started by the group; the other three are Hind Samachar in Urdu, Jagbani in
Punjabi languages and Navodaya Times in Hindi languages from Delhi NCR.
Punjab Kesari was founded in 1965 by Lala Jagat Narain and later on his elder
son Romesh Chander took over the reins. However, during the days of terrorism
in Punjab, Lala Jagat Narain was assassinated in 1981 and Romesh Chander in
1984.
Punjab Kesari fought fearlessly against terrorism. The management also established
Shaheed Parivar Fund (martyrs’ welfare fund) to provide help to the terrorism-
affected families. At one time, Punjab Kesari was the largest selling Hindi daily
of India.
Check Your Progress 3
Note: 1) Use the space provided below for your Answers.
2) Compare your answers with those given at the end of the unit.
a) Why Hindi journalism could not flourish in Bengal where the first Hindi
newspaper was launched?
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b) Name the languages in which Daink Bhaskar group has publications.
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Evolution of Mass Media c) Name the newspaper exposed Fodder Scam?
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d) Name the editors who were killed in Punjab terrorism.
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7.9 MALAYALAM
In this small state of Kerala at the extreme south end of India, people have a
passion for reading newspapers. The leading Malayalam language dailies are
Malayalam Manorama, Mathrubhumi, Deepika, Kerala Kaumudi, and
Deshabhimani. The leading weeklies are Malayalam Manorama and Mangalam.

7.9.1 Malayalam Manorama and Mathrubhumi

Malayalam Manorama was founded in 1888 with a company capital of Rs.10,000/
-. It was a Syrian Christian family venture. Until 1960 the paper was considered
to be a Syrian Christian paper of central Kerala. On the other hand, Mathrubhumi
was considered as a paper for Nayars of northern half of the state. Deshabhimani
was a pro-CPM paper. Deepika was known as a paper for Catholics of all kinds.
Kerala Kaumudi was for Ezhavars, i.e. lower caste Hindus of southern Kerala.
Malayalam Manorama and Mathrubhumi are the two most leading daily newspapers
of Kerala. However, the approach of these two newspapers started changing
when they brought out their editions from other cities of Kerala. For example
when Malayalam Manorama launched its Calicut (now known as Kozhikode)
edition in 1966, the paper became a friend of Muslims, since Muslims accounted
for more than 30 per cent of northern Kerala population.
Mathrubhumi is the second largest Malayalam daily after Malayalam Manorama.
The paper was founded in 1923. Its founders were members of Indian National
Congress led by K.P. Kesav Menon (1886 – 1978).
Malayalam Manorama also has a television news channel, known as Manorama
News Channel.
In 2007, Deshabhimani was criticised for accepting INR two crores from lottery
king Santiago Martin, who was seeking bail.
Kerala has the highest literacy rate in the country, and the tremendous growth of
Malayalam newspapers indicate their fondness and love for their mother tongue.

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7.10 GUJARATI
Gujarat state was created in 1960 by separating it from Maharashtra. When
Gujarat was part of Maharashtra, Mumbai, like Ahmedabad, was also an important
part of Gujarati culture. Mumbai Samachar, founded in 1822 in Mumbai, is not
only the oldest Gujarati daily, but the longest surviving newspaper of Asia. The
paper was founded by Parsi scholar and priest by the name of Fardoonji Murazban.

7.10.1 Gujarat Samachar

Gujarat Samachar, founded in 1932, is a leading Gujarati daily. It has headquarters
in Ahmedabad. It has one branch in Surat as well and distributes editions from
Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Rajkot, Bhavnagar, Mumbai, Mehsana, Bhuj and
New York City (USA).

7.10.2 Sandesh
Sandesh, founded in 1923, is another leading Gujarati daily. It has editions from
Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Vadodara, Bhuj, Surat, Rajkot and Bhavnagar. The Sandesh
also publishes Sandesh International from Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Sandesh group also launched a Gujarati News Channel Sandesh News in 2013.
However, Hindi news channels have large viewership in Gujarat.

7.11 BENGALI
Bengal played a pioneering role in Indian journalism. Bengali was the first Indian
script which had hot lead mechanical casting machine in Bengali language in 1935.
Before that machine was technologically produced for Roman alphabets.
Once Amrita Bazar Patrika (English) and its sister paper Jugantar (Bengali) were
the leading dailies of Bengal. At first Amrita Bazar Patrika started as a Bengali
language paper in 1868 in a village in Jessore district which is now in Bengladesh.
In 1871 it became bilingual. The Amrita Bazar Patrika became an an English daily
in 1891. It was a nationalist paper which inspired many including Bal Gangadhar
Tilak who launched his Marathi newspaper the Kesari from Pune. The Amrita
Bazar Patrika was owned by Sisir Kumar Ghosh.

7.11.1 Ananda Bazar Patrika

In 1922 there was a split in Ghosh family. The split off branch started Bengali
daily Ananda Bazar Patrika which slowly became most powerful media group of
Bengal. In the 1960s Ananda Bazar Patrika became India’s largest circulating
daily published from a single center. Even In 1985, its circulation was 4, 75,000
copies which was largest of all Indian dailies published from single centre. It has
a sister English daily TheTelegraph.
Ananda Bazar Patrika has editions from Kolkata, New Delhi Mumbai and Silchar,
which is one the remote areas of the country near Bangladesh in lower Assam.
Lower Assam districts have a very high concentration of Bengali population.
Ananda Bazar Patrika’s competitors are Bartaman, Sangbad Pratidin, and Ei
Samay, which is a Bengali daily of the Times of India group.

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7.12 TAMIL
As per Indian Readership Survey figures of 2017 Tamil newspapers Dina Thanthi,
Dinakaran and Dinamalar are among the top twenty dailies of India.

7.12.1 Dina Thanthi

The meaning of Dina Thanthi in English is Daily Mail. It was founded by S. P.
Adithanar in Madurai in 1942. Dina Thanthi is India’s largest daily printed in the
Tamil language. History

This daily newspaper is published from 16 cities in India namely Bangalore,

Chennai, Mumbai, Pondicherry, Coimbatore, Cuddalore, Dindigul, Erode, Madurai,
Nagercoil, Salem, Thanjavur, Tiruchirappalli, Tirunelveli, Tirupur and Vellore. An
international edition is printed in Dubai, United Arab Emirates for the market of
Gulf countries. In fact Dubai itself has a large Tamil population who prefer to read
newspaper in their own mother tongue.

Dina Thanthi is one of the dailies of India which are owned by a trust, name
Thanthi Trust. It also has a Thanthi TV channel in Tamil language.

7.12.2 Dinakaran
Dinakaran was founded by K. P. Kandasamy in 1977. The Tamil language daily
is currently owned by famous media conglomerate Sun Network. Dinakaran is
the second largest circulated Tamil daily in India after Dina Thanthi It is printed
in 12 cities across India. K. P. Kandasamy, the founder of the paper, split from
Dina Thanthi owned by his father-in-law S. P. Adithanar. It happened during the
split of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam from Dravida Munnetra
Kazhagam. In 2005, the Dinakaran newspaper was acquired from by Kalanithi
Maran’s Sun Network.

Dinakaran is published from many cities in India includingBengaluru, Chennai,

Coimbatore, Madurai, Mumbai, New Delhi, Nagercoil, Puducherry, Salem,
Tiruchirappalli, Tirunelveli and Vellore.

In May 2006, Dinakaran published the results of a series of opinion polls which
showed politician M. K. Stalin having a greater approval rate than his elder
brother M. K. Azhagiri to succeed Karunanidhi as the chief of Dravida Munnetra
Kazhagam. As a result, the Dinakaran office at Madurai was fire bombed killing
three employees.

7.12.3 Dinamalar
Dinamalar was founded by T. V. Ramasubbaiyer in September 1951 at
Thiruvananthapuram. The newspaper’s operations were moved to Tirunelveli in
1957. New editorial and printing units were opened in Tirunelveli (1957), Tiruchi
(1966), Chennai (1979), Madurai (1980), Erode (1984), Pondicherry (1991),
Coimbatore (1992), Vellore (1993), Nagercoil (1996), Salem (2000).

It is also printed from Bangaluru in Karnataka and Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh.

Dinamalar is a family owned paper.
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 Language Journalism in India
7.13 TELUGU
Eenadu and Sakshi are the two leading Telugu dailies of India.

7.13.1 Eenadu
In English Eenadu mean today. The paper was founded by Ramoji Rao in 1974.
Various editions of Eenadu exist throughout the Telugu-speaking region of India
constituting Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, as well as in cities such as Chennai,
Bengaluru, Mumbai and New Delhi.
Ramoji Rao also launched Etv in 1995. This was the first television channel for
regional news with presence in almost every state and every district. It was in
different Indian languages: Hindi, Urdu, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam,
Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali, Punjabi, Assamese & Oriya. This concept was later
adopted by some other television networks. However, due some reasons Ramoji
Rao had to sell off part of his Etv in the 2010s. But allowed the buyer to use the
logo of Etv only for a limited period. Once that period was over, Ramoji Rao
launched Etv Bharat in several Indian languages.
Ramoji Rao also has his film city in Hyderabad, and that is the largest film city
in the world.

7.13.2 Sakshi
Sakshi was launched on March 24, 2008. Sakshi began with 23 editions published
simultaneously from 19 cities (in then Andhra Pradesh) along with the four
metropolitan areas of Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore. It is published by
Jagati Publication, of which Y. S. Bharathi Reddy (Jaganmohan Reddy’s wife) is
the chairperson. Jaganmohan Reddy is the son of the former Chief Minister of
Andhra Pradesh, Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy.
Sakshi TV is a television channel that began airing in March 2009.

7.14 MARATHI
Lokmat, Sakal and Divya Bhaskar of Dainik Bhaskar group and Loksatta of
Indian Express group, Maharashtara Times of Times of India group and Saamana
of Shiv Sena are the prominent Marathi dailies of India. Among them Lokmat and
Sakal figure in IRS 2017 top 20 newspapers.

7.14.1 Lokmat
Lokmat means ‘People’s Opinion’. Founded in 1971 by Jawaharlal Darda,Lokmat
has editions from several cities of Maharashtra including Nagpur, Aurangabad,
Mumbai, Pune, Ahmednagar, Solapur, Kolhapur, Nashik, Jalgaon and Akola. It
has also editions from New Delhi and Goa.
Lokmat extended its media business to television through a 50-50 joint venture
with IBN18 Broadcast Limited (“ibn18”). The joint venture company, IBN-Lokmat
Private Limited (“IBNL”), operates IBN-Lokmat, a 24 x 7 Marathi news and
current affairs television channel which went started its telecast from April 2008.
In 2015, a cartoon published alongside the article “ISIS cha Paisa” (ISIS’ money),
regarding the funding pattern of terrorist group ISIS, led to violent protests from
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Evolution of Mass Media Muslim groups and attacks on the newspaper’s offices in Jalgaon, Dhule,
Nandurbar, Malegaon and other locations across Maharashtra. Protestors deemed
the cartoon to be blasphemous. One of the protests was led by Congress MLA
from Malegaon.

7.14.2 Sakal
Sakal means “Morning”. It is a Marathi-language daily newspaper by Sakal
Media Group with its headquarters in Pune, Maharashtra, India. Sakal is the
flagship of the Group. Dr. Nanasaheb Parulekar, prominent journalist, was the
founder of Sakal. It is published from the cities of Pune, Mumbai, Kolhapur,
Sangli, Nashik, Aurangabad, Nanded, Solapur, Nagpur, Satara, Akola and Jalgaon.
Business Standard of 12 April 2005 in a report said that Supreme Court of India
directed Sakal Papers Pvt Ltd to pay Rs 3 crore to one of its directors, Claude-
Lila Parulekar (daughter of founder Nanasaheb Parulekar) for transfer of 3,510
of her shares in the company to Pratap Pawar’s group.

7.15 INDIAN LANGUAGE NEWS AGENCIES

There are three prominent news agencies in Indian languages. Hindustan Samachar,
UNI Varta and PTI Bhasha.
Hindustan Samachar was set up in 1948 by S. S. Apte. It is a multilingual news
agency in India offering its services in many Indian languages.
In May 1982, United News of India launched its Hindi service, UNIVarta. This
was followed by the launch of Urdu news service on 5 June 1992.
In April 1986 Press Trust of India launched its Hindi service PTI Bhasha.

7.16 LET US SUM UP

In conclusion we can say that Indian language journalism has grown leaps and
bounds after independence of India. Maximum growth in circulation and readership
has occurred in Hindi dailies followed by Malayalam ones. Two Gujarati Media
groups, Sandesh and Gujarat Samachar, have their publications from the USA
too. Dina Thanthi, the largest circulated Tamil daily has an edition from Dubai.
Not only in print media, but in television media too Eenadu group has a highly
successful story with its regional languages news channel Etv.
Check Your Progress 4
Note: 1) Use the space provided below for your Answers.
2) Compare your answers with those given at the end of the unit.
a) Which newspaper group launched Etv?
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b) Why Dina Thanthi has an edition from Dubai? Language Journalism in India

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c) Which are the prominent Marathi dailies?
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d) Which are the prominent news agencies in Indian languages?
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7.17 FURTHER READINGS

Natarajan, J. Report of the Press Commission Part II: History of Indian Press
Manager, Publications Government of India, Delhi, 1954
Bhatt, S.C. Indian Press Since 1955 Publications Division, Ministry of Informationa
and Broadcasting, Government of India, New Delhi, 1997
Jeffrey, Robin India’s Newspaper Revolution: Capitalism, Technology and the
Indian Language Press, 1977-1999 Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2000

7.18 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS: POSSIBLE

ANSWERS
Check Your Progress 1
a) First Press Commission of India
b) 1952 -1954
c) 1948
d) Readership Studies Council of India (RSCI) and Media Research Users
Council (MRUC)
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Evolution of Mass Media Check Your Progress 2
a) Mathrubhumi
b) Dinamani
c) Times of India
d) Dainik Jagaran, Hindustan, Amar Ujala, Dainik Bhaskar, Rajasthan Patrika
Prabhat Khabar, Punjab Kesari, Patrika
Check Your Progress 3
a) Hindi journalism could not flourish in guest territories. For example, Bengali
journalism will flourish in Bengal, Malayalam in Kerala, Tamil in Tamil Nadu,
etc. In the same way Hindi journalism could flourish only in the Hindi belt
of India.
b) Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi and English.
c) Prabhat Khabar
d) Lala Jagat Narain and Romesh Chander
Check Your Progress 4
a) Enadu
b) Dubai has a large Tamil population who prefer to read newspaper in their
own mother tongue and from their own mother land.
c) Lokmat, Sakal and Divya Bhaskar of Dainik Bhaskar group and Loksatta
of Indian Express group, Maharashtara Times of Times of India group and
Saamana of Shiv Sena.
d) PTI Bhasha, UNI Varta and Hindustan Samachar.

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