History of Newspapers

HISTORY OF PRINTING

It is believed that Johannes Gutenberg of Germany was the first to develop printing around 1439. With printing, there was a revolution in the way communication developed.

Knowledge and information, which were till then the monopoly of certain sections of the upper strata of society, slowly became available to ordinary people. Spread of knowledge, available in print between two hard covers, was fast. Schools, colleges and universities were places with their libraries making books available to those who wanted to read even if they could not afford to buy them. Later newspapers and journals also became popular.

Have you seen a palm leaf? There was a time when people used to write on palm leaves. This was before the discovery of paper. Some of the old manuscripts written on palm leaves are preserved in our National Manuscript Library in Delhi.

The Chinese were the first to invent the art of printing. They made wooden blocks to print letters. This was started during the period of the Tang Dynasty in 600 AD. The oldest known surviving printed work in a woodblock is a Buddhist scripture of 684 AD. It is now exhibited in a calligraphy museum in Tokyo, the capital of Japan.

The first printed book published in China was the Buddhist text, the “Diamond Sutra” by Wang Chick in 868 AD. Some copies of the Buddhist scriptures printed in 1377 are preserved in museums in China.

Can you imagine a world without paper? Nowadays paper has become an integral part of our life. We read papers in the morning, write on note books made of paper, send letters on paper, use paper boxes to carry things and so on and so forth. You have learnt in an earlier lesson how this paper is made. Though the Egyptians made paper by 3500 BC, it came to Europe only by the 11th century. The first paper mill in Europe was set up in Spain in 1120.

Block printing came to Europe by 1300. It is believed that Johannes Gutenburg of Germany had developed printing technology around 1439. Gutenburg also invented an oil-based ink for printing. He printed the Bible in 1450. It was in the Latin language and had 1282 pages .He used movable printing blocks for the book.

Printing technology came to India in 1556. It was the Jesuit priests who brought this technology to our country. The first book printed in India was in Portugese language in Old Goa. It was Doctrina Christa by St. Francis Xavier.

THE FIRST NEWSPAPER

Which was the first newspaper published in the world? It is very difficult to point out a single newspaper as the first one. During the Maurya period, kings used to circulate news to the people as proclamations. In ancient Rome, Acta Diurna, or government announcements, were published regularly. They were inscribed in metal or stone. These can be considered as the earliest form of newspapers. In China also, the government produced such news sheets called tipao.

Many researchers consider “The Peking Gazette”, published from China, as the first newspaper. It was started in 618 .In the initial stages, this newspaper was hand written and distributed to the readers. Later it was printed and circulated. The Peking Gazette continued its publication till the beginning of the twentieth century.

In England , “The Weekly News” was launched in 1622. The first newspaper in the modern concept was published in Oxford in 1655 .It was the “Oxford

Gazette”.

The first newspaper to be published from London was the Daily Courant. It was edited by E. Mallet. In 1784, John Walter launched the “Daily Universal Register” from London which later adopted a new name “ The Times”. It is known to be one of the greatest newspapers in the world.

In USA, the first newspaper was “Public Occurances”, which was launched in 1690. Postmaster John Campbell started another paper in 1704, “The Boston Newsletter”. In 1783, “Pensilvania Evening Post” was started in USA that had all the features and content of a modern newspaper. Later in 1851 came “The New York Times”.

Do you know which the largest circulated newspaper in the world is? In which country is it published? The largest circulated newspaper is the “Yomi Yuri Shimbun” published from Japan. It has a circulation of 1, 45, 57, 000 copies per day. The second and third largest circulated dailies in the world are also published from Japan.

NEWSPAPER PRINTING IN INDIA

Do you know the old name of Kolkata City? It is Calcutta. Did you know that Calcutta was once the capital city of India? From 1774 to 1922 Calcutta was the Capital of India. Calcutta has also many other firsts in the history of India.

The first Railway Company was started here. The first Metro Rail was also in this City. The first Post and Telegraph office and the first western style bank were also opened in Calcutta. Our Supreme Court also began functioning from that city.

All of you must have heard about Nobel Prizes. Calcutta city gave the country five Nobel Laureates, Rabindranath Tagore, Sir C. V Raman, Mother Theresa, Ronald Rose and Amartya Sen.

You will find it interesting to note that Calcutta has one more first. It was from Calcutta that the first newspaper was published from India. It was a Britisher who started the first newspaper in our country. On January 29, 1780 James Augustus Hickey launched the “Bengal Gazette”. It has another title “Calcutta Advertiser”. It was popularly known as “Hickey’s Gazette”. The first issue of the paper had two pages and later it was increased to four pages. It’s size was 35 cms x 24 cms.

The British East India Company did not consider freedom of the press as good for society. They tried to suppress publication of newspapers. Hickey was a very bold editor. He continued his criticism of British authorities. He published reports attacking the East India Company officials. The British authorities arrested Hickey many times. Finally, they confiscated his paper and press in 1782 and stopped its publication. Hickey was asked to leave the country. He was sent back to England. Copies of the Bengal Gazette are still kept in the National Library in Kolkata and the British Museum in London.

Following in Hickey’s footsteps in 1780, the second newspaper was launched from Calcutta “The Indian Gazette”. The “Calcutta Gazette” which started publication in 1784 and the “Bengal Journal” which was launched in 1785 were the third and fourth newspapers to come out from Calcutta.

All these four earlier papers were published in the English language. Slowly newspapers started coming out from other parts of the country also. The “Madras Courier ” (1785) and “ Madras Gazette” (1795) were started from Madras. From Mumbai, the “Mumbai Herald” was launched in 1789.

The Gujarati daily “Mumbai Samachar” published from Mumbai is the oldest existing newspaper not only in India but also in Asia. It was established in 1822.

 

CULTURAL AWAKENING AND FREEDOM MOVEMENT

Towards the end of the 19th century, many social reformers began actively campaigning for radical changes in Indian society. The reformation of Hinduism, the move for abolition of sati and efforts to encourage widow remarriage were some of the major reforms. Inspired by these great leaders, many newspapers were started in different parts of the country. All this led to a boom in the newspaper industry in India.

Some of the leading English newspapers were also launched during this time. “The Times of India” (1861) was started as a paper supporting the British. Many of you might have heard about “The Jungle Book”. The author of “The Jungle Book” , Rudyard Kipling, started “The Pioneer” in 1866 from Allahabad.

 “The Amrita Bazar Patrika”(1868), “The Statesman” (1875), “The Hindu” (1887) and “The Tribune”( 1880) were also started during this period. “The Hindustan Times” was started later, in 1923. In the regional languages, some papers that were launched during that period continue even now as leading papers like “Malayala Manorama” (1888).

When Mahatma Gandhi returned to India, he gave a great impetus to the freedom movement. He was also a great editor. He took over “Young India”, the weekly started by the Home Rule Party in 1918. Gandhiji also launched another weekly, called the “Navjeevan”, in Gujarati. Later, Gandhiji started the “Harijan” under the editorship of Mahadev Desai. Gandhiji insisted that his papers will not carry any advertisements. But all his publications had wide circulation among readers.

ADVENT OF MODERN TECHNOLOGY

Have you ever wondered how the pages of a newspaper are printed ? From the days of wooden block printing, newspapers have undergone a sea change. Technological revolution has modernized the print media. For a long time, these were produced by hand composing. Later, these were replaced by monotype and linotype. In this process, a machine operated by a key board was used to compose letters. This has also become obsolete now. Typesetting in computers, offset printing and laser printing have taken over. Desktop publishing has become quite common now.

The invention of printing has revolutionized mass communication. Books are printed in large numbers and circulated in many countries. No other invention has had such an influence in the history of mankind.