Evolution of Newspaper in India

The evolution of newspaper in India is tangled with the political and economic history of the country. It has its own significance and supremacy in the history of world press.

The advent of globalization and modernization gave birth to the need of printing press. With the invasion of westernization in the country, billions of residents showcased their hunger for information. This was because India was growing tremendously in all ways and it was becoming difficult for people to reach out to all possible happenings in the country. Newspapers quenched people’s hunger by giving more and more over the period of time.

The first newspaper in India was introduced by Hickey in Kolkata by the name of ‘Calcutta General Advertise’. Established in January 1780 it was also known as Hickey’s Bengal Gazette. This was followed by the establishment of another newspaper ‘Bombay Herald’ in Mumbai in the year 1789. Thereafter, ‘Bombay Courier’ was introduced that was later merged with ‘The Times of India’ in 1861.

The first newspaper in Indian language was the Samachar Darpan in Bengali that was followed by ‘Bengal Gazette’ in Bengal and ‘Bombay Samachar’ in Mumbai. Later on in 1854, the first Hindi newspaper ‘Samachar Sudha Varshan’ was established. The circulation of Samachar Sudha brought a breakthrough in the Indian media industry. After this newspaper became widely popular amongst Indians, many more newspapers had been released in almost all Indian languages. Every religion has its specific language and all prefer to gather information from their own language newspapers. This makes it ways and convenient for them and also help them to instill their language skills in their children.

Soon other newspapers also came into print including the Bengal Journal, the Oriental Magazine, the Indian Gazette, Statesmen, Madras Mail, and the Madras Courier. ‘The Hindu’ was introduced in Madras as a competitor to Madras Mail. This newspaper became the voice of India during its establishment as it helped people to imbibe patriotism, love, and humanity. All the information distributed amongst the people of India through the newspaper became a significant tool for freedom struggle. Even today The Hindu is a daily newspaper being published in almost all the states of the country.

The newspapers collect all their news and information from four news agencies in India. These agencies are Press Trust of India (PTI), United News of India (UNI), Samachar Bharti, and Hindustan Samachar. Some of the leading publications in India today are The Telegraph, The Statesmen, The Times of India, The Hindu, The Economic Times, and Indian Express.