THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY
The Story of the Indian Press
T H E Press Commission h a d m a n y
things on its hands; to prepare
a history of the development of
j o u r n a l i s m i n I n d i a was n o t a m o n g
its terms of reference. Nevertheless,
i t felt t h a t such a n account w o u l d
h e l p its deliberations by p r o v i d i n g
a b a c k g r o u n d to the e n q u i r y . H e n c e
this h a n d y v o l u m e of 287 pages,
c o m p i l e d on behalf a n d u n d e r the
d i r e c t i o n of the Press Commission
by S h r i J N a t a r a j a n , E d i t o r of The
Tribune* A m o n g the appendices
to the Press Commission R e p o r t ,
there is v a r i e d fare, a sample sur-
vey of newspaper readership, a one-
m a n survey of the q u a l i t y of news
r e p o r t i n g in the I n d i a n Press, in the
style of reportage, b u t spoiled some-
w h a t by too m a n y missing issues of
the papers that are supposed to be
studied a n d so on. T h e v o l u m e on
history is n o t such fancy fare. It
is a useful c o m p i l a t i o n , albeit a l i t t l e
staid a n d fills a gap since there is
no other u p t o d a t e account available
today.
T h e v o l u m e records i n brief the
o r i g i n of the Press in I n d i a , its trials
and tribulations, G o v e r n m e n t p a t r o -
nage as also the repression it h a d
to face. To p r o v i d e a b a c k g r o u n d
to the Press Commission E n q u i r y ,
it presents a concise survey of deve-
lopments b o t h i n the English Ian-
guage a n d I n d i a n language Press.
T h e e v o l u t i o n of the Press has been
very closely connected w i t h n a t i o n a l
awakening in this c o u n t r y , so m u c h
so t h a t up to pre-Independence days,
the history of the Press can h a r d l y
be separated f r o m t h a t of the social
reform movement and Nationalist
movement.
TRIBAL ORIGIN
T a k i n g the functions of the Press
to be those of conveying G o v e r n -
m e n t policies to the p u b l i c , keeping
G o v e r n m e n t i n f o r m e d of p u b l i c
needs a n d reactions to G o v e r n m e n t
policies, a n d keeping G o v e r n m e n t
a n d the p u b l i c i n f o r m e d of events,
the a u t h o r takes back his story to
p r i m i t i v e times a n d to meetings of
the t r i b a l society w h i c h developed
the m e t h o d o f m o d i f y i n g o r a m p l i -
' Report of the Press Commission,
Part I I , History of Journalism. Com-
piled by Shri J Natarajan, Editor, The
Tribune. Manager of Publications, Delhi,
1954 Pp 287. Price not mentioned.
Reba Chaudhuri
fying policies a n d
" w i l l of the chief
tribe as w e l l as of
of m a k i n g the
k n o w n to the
ascertaining the
w i l l of the tribe as a whole ".
In a later era historical evidence
shows the ruler m a k i n g his w i l l
k n o w n to the people t h r o u g h edicts
a n d proclamations. A n o t h e r con-
current development was the
agency whereby the ruler acquaint-
ed himself w i t h activities w h i c h
threatened i n t i m e t o develop i n t o
a challenge to his a u t h o r i t y . News
letters f r o m ministers, news writers
a n d secret service m e n were also an
early i n s t i t u t i o n w h i c h kept the
ruler regularly i n f o r m e d of develop-
ments in various parts of the coun-
t r y a n d a m o n g different classes of
people.
I n the M o g h u l period, news-
writers were a p p o i n t e d to various
administrative units i n their t e r r i -
tory, a n d were charged w i t h the
f u n c t i o n of sending reports to the
headquarters of the a d m i n i s t r a t i o n .
T h e East I n d i a C o m p a n y also re-
quisitioned the services of news-
writers for the same purpose as
M o g h u l emperors.
THE FIRST NEWSPAPER
T h e first a t t e m p t to start a news-
paper in C a l c u t t a was made in 1776
b y M r W i l l i a m Bolts w h o h a d re-
signed f r o m the Company's service
earlier t h a t year after censure by the
C o u r t o f Directors f o r p r i v a t e trade.
T h e notice of his i n t e n t i o n to em-
bark on the enterprise made it k n o w n
that h e had " i n manuscript many
things to c o m m u n i c a t e w h i c h most
i n t i m a t e l y concerned every i n d i -
v i d u a l ", a n d this n a t u r a l l y gave
rise to a l a r m in official quarters.
H e was directed t o q u i t Bengal a n d
proceed t o M a d r a s a n d f r o m there
to take his passage to E u r o p e . F o r
the n e x t twelve years, no a t t e m p t
was m a d e t o , emulate M r Bolt's
example. In 1780, James Augustus
H i c k y started the Bengal Gazette
or the Calcutta General Advertiser,
in the first issue of w h i c h he i n t r o -
duced himself as " the late p r i n t e r
to the Honourable C o m p a n y '.
H i c k y ' s Gazette specialised in the ex-
posure of the p r i v a t e lives of C o m -
p a n y servants. T h i s soon l a n d e d
H i c k y i n trouble.
SUCCEEDING VENTURES
T h e ventures t h a t f o l l o w e d were
291
February 26, 1955
p r o m o t e d b y men w h o benefited
f r o m Hicky's bitter experience. I n
1780, Messrs B Messink a n d Peter
Reed published the Indian Gazette.
F o u r years later f o l l o w e d the Cal-
cutta Gazette, published under the
direct patronage of G o v e r n m e n t ,
a n d in the f o l l o w i n g year, came the
Bengal Journal a n d a m o n t h l y , the
Oriental Magazine of Calcutta
Amusements. With the Calcutta
Chronicle w h i c h was published in
1786, there were f o u r weekly news-
papers and one m o n t h l y magazine
published f r o m C a l c u t t a w i t h i n six
years of H i c k y ' s m a i d e n effort. T h e
new editors t r o d w a r i l y the t r a i l
w h i c h H i c k y h a d blazed for t h e m .
T h e first newspaper in M a d r a s , the
Madras Courier, came i n t o existence
in 1785 as an officially recognised
newspaper, founded by R i c h a r d
Johnson, the G o v e r n m e n t printer.
I t continued w i t h o u t a competitor
t i l l 1795, w h e n R W i l l i a m s started
the Madras Gazette, f o l l o w e d a few
months later by the India Herald
w h i c h was published w i t h o u t author-
ity by one H u m p h r e y w h o was
arrested for unauthorised publica-
t i o n , but escaped f r o m the ship on
w h i c h he was to be deported to
England.
Censorship was first i n t r o d u c e d in
M a d r a s in 1795 w h e n the Madras
Gazette was r e q u i r e d to submit a i l
general orders of G o v e r n m e n t for
scrutiny by the M i l i t a r y Secretary
before p u b l i c a t i o n . Free postage
facilities were w i t h d r a w n , a n d o n
b o t h newspapers protesting, it was
decided to impose the levy at the
delivery end. Bombay's first news-
paper, the Bombay Herald, came
i n t o existence in 1789. T h e Courier,
w h i c h was published a year later,
carried advertisements i n G u j e r a t i .
T h e Bombay Gazette was published
in 1791, a n d the Bombay Herald
was merged i n t o it the f o l l o w i n g
year, being officially recognised for
purposes of official notifications a n d
advertisements in the same terms as
the Madras Courier.
ANXIOUS FOR OFFICIAL FAVOUR
I n B o m b a y a n d M a d r a s , news-
papers do not seem to have come
i n t o conflict w i t h G o v e r n m e n t i n
this early p e r i o d . O n the contrary,
they were anxious to e a r n official
recognition a n d t o enjoy official
favour. I n Bengal, however, t h e
February 26, 1955
position was different, a n d i n 1791,
W i l l i a m Duane-whb, i n partnership
w i t h Messrs D i m k i m a n d Cassan, ac-
q u i r e d Bengal Journal a n d became
its editor, w a l k e d straight i n t o
t r o u b l e by p u b l i s h i n g the r u m o u r e d
death o f L o r d C o r n w a l l i s w h o was
then c a m p a i g n i n g i n the M a r a t h a
Wan
I n m o r e t h a n one sense, t h e t u r n
of the c e n t u r y marks the end of a
phase i n j o u r n a l i s m i n I n d i a . D u r -
i n g this p e r i o d , there were no Press
laws as such. If the person i n t e n d -
i n g to start a paper was already
persona non grata w i t h G o v e r n m e n t
or w i t h influential officials, he was
deported f o r t h w i t h . I f a newspaper
offended a n d was unrepentant,, i t
wa* f i r s t denied postal privileges; i f
it persisted in causing displeasure to
G o v e r n m e n t , i t was r e q u i r e d t o sub-
m i t i n p a r t o r entirely t o pre-censor-
ship, if the e d i t o r was ' i n c o r r i g i b l e ',
he was deported. A n o t h e r aspect
o f j o u r n a l i s m i n I n d i a d u r i n g this
p e r i o d was t h a t the j o u r n a l s c o n -
t a i n e d m a t e r i a l exclusively o f i n t e -
rest to, a n d r e l a t i n g to t h e activities
of, the E u r o p e a n p o p u l a t i o n i n
India. T h e early newspapers were
started b y ex-servants o f the C o m -
pany w h o h a d i n c u r r e d its displea-
sure a n d t h e i r columns were devot-
ed to the exposure of the evils a n d
malpractices o f t h e t i m e . T h e gene-
r a l features of the Press d u r i n g this"
period were:
( 1 ) T h e f i r s t newspapers were
started by d i s g r u n t l e d ex-employees
o f the C o m p a n y , a n d they were a i d -
ed a n d abetted by servants of the
C o m p a n y w h o used these newspapers
f o r the furtherance of t h e i r personal
rivalries a n d jealousies,
( 2 ) T h e c i r c u l a t i o n o f newspapers
p u b l i s h e d in this p e r i o d never ex-
ceeded a h u n d r e d o r t w o h u n d r e d ;
hence there was h a r d l y any clanger
o f p u b l i c o p i n i o n being subverted.
CONTROL O F T H E PRESS
T h e bureaucrat o f efficiency, L o r d
Wellesley, imposed r i g i d c o n t r o l o n
the Press. T h e r e was difference of
o p i n i o n a t the highest level b o t h i n
I n d i a a n d i n L o n d o n a s t o w h a t the
official a t t i t u d e t o w a r d s the Press in
I n d i a s h o u l d be. T h e p r o v o c a t i o n
f o r issuing the r e g u l a t i o n came f r o m
the E d i t o r of the Asiatic Mirror w h o
p u b l i s h e d some estimated figures,
g i v i n g the strength o f the E u r o p e a n
and native population. Strangely
enough, the seven newspapers in
Calcutta complied without demur.
B u t soon i t was f o u n d t h a t news-
papers were not s u b m i t t i n g t o p r e -
censorship w i t h any r e g u l a r i t y .
Consequently, other restrictions were
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THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY
imposed on the press and all public-
meetings were b a n n e d by -brder of
t h e Governor-General i n C o u n c i l
( A p r i l 9 , 1807). T h e r i g i d restric-
tions imposed on t h e Press l e d to
the p u b l i c a t i o n of a spate of p a m p h -
lets w h i c h bore n e i t h e r t h e n a m e
o f the a u t h o r n o r t h a t o f the p r i n -
ter. Some significant developments
took place in the field of newspaper
p u b l i c a t i o n between 1813 a n d 1818.
T h e first newspaper p u b l i s h e d by a
native, Gangadhar Bhattacharjee,
the Bengal Gazette, l i v e d o n l y f o r a
year. I n 1818, J o h n B u r t o n a n d
James secured permission t o p u b l i s h
a newspaper u n d e r the n a m e of
Guardian, T h e Serampore mission-
aries started three j o u r n a l s : Dig
Darshan, a m o n t h l y magazine in
B e n g a l i , Samachar Barpan, a weekly
Bengali paper, a n d Friend of I n d i a ,
a m o n t h l y periodical in English, f o l -
l o w e d t w o years later by a q u a r t e r l y
of the same name. Samachar Dar-
pan continued p u b l i c a t i o n t i l l 1840.
Press censorship was abolished by a
r e g u l a t i o n issued on A u g u s t 19,
1818, a n d the responsibility f o r
e x c l u d i n g matters l i k e l y to affect the
authority of Government or injurious
to t h e p u b l i c interest was left to t h e
E d i t o r s themselves.
(To be continued)