History of Journalism

Journalism came to India in 1785 when the first newspaper was established by an Englishmen called Hickey. Because of the intellectual nature of journalism, the subsequent history of newspapers in India is extremely interesting. The realization of the power of the print media was bound to be grasped by those exploiting and those resisting exploitation. Journalism has its bright periods and its dark days. There were periods of sustained growth and also phases of repression and major crises. The communications revolution and the information explosion of recent decades have spawned new forms of journalism and news-gathering methods, not always of high quality and sometimes of doubtful integrity. The darkest patch of Indian journalism was the Emergency of 1975-77 when the Press was fully deprived of its innate freedom. In the following pages the reader will find a comprehensive overview of the origins, development and growth of journalism in India, from the last years of the eighteenth century to the post independence surge in the power of the Fourth Estate. The publication will be of considerable interest to journalists, newspersons and students of journalism.