Hindi Journalism started because of 5 main

reasons

1. Love for Hindi language

2. Love for Hindi literature

3. Love for Journalism & journalistic activities

4. To rid the society of social evils

5. To propagate religious values

Concerned solely with social & religious

matters

Not much involvement in political affairs

Singular attention to ridding society of social

evils like Untouchability, lack of education

especially girl education, sati, dowry, child

marriage, widow remarriage etc

Hindi press transformed to political &

nationalistic Press with a demand for self

governance when

Racial discrimination became rampant

Grievances of people against the rulers

multiplied

1826, 1st Hindi NP- weekly started in Calcutta,

Oodunt Martand

Editor- Jooghul Kishore (Jugal Kishor)

Pioneer of Hindi journalism in India

Faced many difficulties in running it

Needed postal facilities to dispatch it outside

Bengal- but denied by the Govt.

Also refused postal concessions

Unable to face high postal rates

Closed down the paper within an year after 79

issues

Made an attempt to start another newspaper in

1850 called Samyadani Martand- but this too

failed

1829, Bangadoot, owned by Rajarammohun Roy,

sister publication of Bengal Herald (Eng weekly),

Ed- Nilratan Haldar

Vehicle for propagation of Roy’s views- attacked

Hindu orthodoxy & social vices

Also published in English, Persian & Bengali

Prajamitra- 3rd Hindi journal to appear in Calcutta

1854, 1st Hindi daily- Samachar Subha Varshan,

Ed- Shyam Sunder Sen

Many newspapers started- Benaras Akhbar, Tathwa

Bodhini, etc

Sudhakar- sustained campaign against missionary

activities,

Ed- Tara Mohan Mitra, Bilingual newspaper

Language used- Khari Boli

Saraswathy- literary Hindi magazine, set high standards

for future Hindi journals, Ed- Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi

Standardized the style & pattern for Hindi journalism-

included literary criticism, book reviews, poetry etc,

Birth of many Hindi dailies in Bombay, Delhi,

Calcutta, Patna etc

Most prominent ones: Sri Venkateshwar

Samachar, Bharat Mitra, calutta Samachar

etc

Bharat Mitra- became leading Hindi NP of its

time in Calcutta, Eds- B Gupta, A P Bajpai

Main rival- Viswamitra in 1918

Hindi Journalism- made rapid progress

Most reporters & journalists were writers who had

interest in Hindi literature & consequently in Hindi

journalism

Produced outstanding J’s- M.P Dwivedi, C Ram Shukla,

Shiv Ram Pandey, Laxminarayan Garde, Narmada

Prasad Misra etc

Other distinguished writers include:

Munshi Premchand, Mahadevi Varma, Ela Chandra

Joshi, Chandradhar Sharma Guleri etc

Masses influenced by regional language NPs,

especially Hindi, as Hindi widely spoken

English not half as effective

Leaders wanted dissemination of news &

views on freedom struggle through widely

read Hindi papers

Reporters & writers had one foot in prison &

the other in Ed office

1920, started in Banaras

Notable part in Indian Independence struggle

1st Ed- Sri Prakasa- freedom fighter

Espoused the national cause & waged a never

ending battle against the British

Assisted by Baburao Vishnu Pararkar-

contribution to development of Hindi journalism

immense

Sold at half anna

Often compared to The Times, London

Main aim of the NP was to spread the message of

freedom to Hindi speaking masses of UP, Bihar & MP

Was a strong supporter of the INC

Famous for- impartial & objective reporting & fearless

editorials

Covered both national as well as international news

1920, Patna weekly, influential paper,

mouthpiece of the Indian National Congress

Proved valuable for nationalist propaganda

Founded by Babu Rajendra Prasad

Not a profitable venture, incurred huge losses

Made the mistake of gradually reducing ad rates

Hence, circulation increased and losses kept pace

End of non cooperation movement spelt doom

1924, 102 papers in India

4 dailies: Aaj- Banaras, Swatantra- Calcutta, Arjun-

Delhi & Calcutta Samachar- Calcutta

But , Hindi dailies were not as successful as Hindi

weeklies

Their get up & printing was poor, content clumsily

written, had countless errors & editorials were

very lengthy

Weeklies better edited as they had more time at

disposal

In 1920’s, the previous ones and the following

Bhavishya- Kanpur, Sainik- Agra

In 1930’s,

Savadho Bharat- Bombay, Lokmat- Jabalpur,

Vartaman- kanpur, Milap- Lahore, Lokmanya-

Calcutta

Most played a notable role in our struggle for

freedom

Started in 1936

Sister publication of Hindustan Times

Wide news coverage & variety of special

features

Had high circulation, a very popular paper

Aryavart- started in 1940, sister publication of

Indian Nation – exercised considerable

influence

Navbharat Times of the Times group- started in

1950 in Delhi

One of the largest circulated daily today

Many editions- from Maharashtra, MP, Chattisgarh

Popular for its coverage of national & international

news and views on domestic affairs

Amrita Patrika- Allahabad, notable Hindi daily

notable for its trenchant editorial

Amar Ujala- UP

Sanmarg- Calcutta

Kuber Times- Delhi

Nai Duniya- Indore

Hindi Milap- Hyderabad

Rajasthan Patrika-

Rajasthan

Hindi Tribune- Chandigarh

Dopahar Ka Saamna-

Mumbai

Swatantra Chetna-

Gorakhpur

Hamara Mahanagar-

Mumbai

Jansatta- Delhi &

Kolkatta

Largest no. of Hindi papers- UP (In 1982-

2052)

Oldest surviving Hindi newspaper (as on

1984)- Jain Gazette- weekly from Lucknow,

started in 1895

Hindi Press as a whole commands maximum

readership

More newsprint exists in Hindi than in any

other language

Best in Hindi journalism- was seen in

periodicals- stronghold of Hindi journalism

Better style, better made & more appealing

E.g., Ravivar (Hindi weekly of Sunday Group) &

Hindi Blitz from Bombay

Main centers of Hindi publications- UP, MP,

Bihar, Rajasthan, Delhi

1918, Mahatma Gandhi advocated the need for

recognizing Hindi as the national language

Several politicians & educationists supported him

Stressed the need for introducing Hindi as the

medium of instruction in schools

Campaign for popularization of Hindi got an

impetus- Millionaire philanthropist of Benares,

Shiv Prasad Gupta launched Hindi NP Aaj in 1920

Paper was sold for half an anna

Wanted the paper to become as influential as

The Times of London

When suggestions were raised to have a

common script for all Indian languages, Gandhi

asserted use of Devanagari (Roman script was

used till then)

Indian Army used Roman script to write Hindi, it

continued till 1951

Bitterness caused by Partition checkmated the

effort to have a common script for Hindi & Urdu

Though they have lot in common in the spoken

form, their scripts have different origins

Hindi developed from Sanskrit, Urdu from

Persian & Arabic

Out of 27 Indian States - 8 States use Hindi as

the State language (Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand,

Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chattisgarh,)

Writers before Independence were people who

had love for Hindi language & Hindi literature

Till Independence, Hindi NPs had a mission-

Freedom

Post Independence, this mission became a

profession

Industrialists & businessmen took over, gained

ownership

Ed lost importance, journalists who

disagreed terms & conditions –

unceremoniously sacked

Influx of Hindi supplements, weekend

magazines, for both literary reasons +

entertainment

Hindi was spoken by 49% of the population

English- 3%

1978, NRS- Circulation of Hindi NPs exceeded

that of English NPs

1997- 16.1 million Hindi dailies were sold as

against 5 million English ones

The gap has widened since then & only

increasing

Aaj & Dainik Jaagran- highly competitive since 1974

Aaj- audited circulation of about 1,20,000

By ‘93, published from 12 centers

1998, Aaj’s circulation- 5,70,000, Dainik Jaagran- 7

lac from 11 centers

Dainik Bhaskar- 4.78 lakh copies

Navbharat Times- 2 editions- 4.19 lakh circulation

Navbharat- 7 editions- 4.65 copies

Big NPs like DB, DJ hired Journalists who had 4-5 yrs

experience in smaller NPs, no training as such

Most J’s came from right wing tinged communities

with communal bias against the minority

communities

Often brought their prejudices to work

Serious allegations that smaller Hindi NPs distorted

news & exaggerated certain communally sensitive

matter during the Babri Masjid demolition

More rooted in soil than English papers

Covered the mental gap between the readers in

rural areas & the English language NPs

Bridged the distance between a foreign language

NP readers & one who can read his own language

Escalation of literacy

Increasing purchasing power

Hunger for news as well as entertainment

Attempts since 1950’s to exploit the potential of

Hindi NPs for developmental purposes

Govt. realized how it could carry the message of

planned development

Radio was earlier used to convey such vital info

to farmers, agricultural communities

With the progress of the literacy programme, the

focus shifted to print media since it had greater

credibility

Hindi NPs played a constructive role in

promotion of

Family planning programme of the Govt.

Rural health programmes

Literacy campaigns

Hindi press also helped the rural masses understand

the political process

Result- more & more people from rural areas driven

to politics + more awareness about our working

system

NPs also played imp. role during elections in 2 ways:

Helped candidates get better exposure in small areas

Candidates made Press a part of their campaign to

seek rural vote bank

More like challenges to regional Press, not Hindi

press alone

Maintaining neutrality & objectivity in reporting

Being exploited by powerful politicians &

industrialists

Erosion of the authority of the editor

Growing English Press