History Of The Newspapers Of India

Newspapers are lifeline of every literate individual in India. With rising literacy rose the demand of newspapers in our country. In 1976, the literacy rate across India was not more than 35%. However, there was a remarkable increase in 2008 the figure was 74% by 2011. Rising youth literacy at the rate of 84% was a clear indication of rising number of potential readers.

James Augustus Hickey is considered as the “father of Indian press” as he was the founder of the first Indian newspaper from Calcutta, the `Bengal Gazette` or the `Calcutta General Advertise` in January 1780.

In 1789, the first newspaper from Bombay, the `Bombay Herald` was released,followed by the `Bombay Courier` next year. This newspaper was later merged with the `Times of India` in 1861 of ‘Bennet, Coleman & Co. Ltd.’publishing firm.

The first newspaper in an Indian language was in Bengali, named as the `Samachar Darpan`.The first issue of this daily was published from the Serampore Mission Press on May 23,1818. In the very same year, Ganga Kishore Bhattacharya started publishing another newspaper in Bengali, the Bengal Gazetti. On July 1, 1822 the first Gujarati newspaper was published from Bombay, called the Bombay Samachar, which is still existent. The first Hindi newspaper, the Samachar Sudha Varshan began in 1854. Since then, the prominent Indian languages in which newspapers have grown over the years are Hindi, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Telugu, Bengali and many other vernaculars.

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INDIA

The 2010 Indian Readership Survey findings shows that the largest read local language newspapers to be Dainik Jagran (with 16.0 million readers) and Dainik Bhaskar (with 13.5 million readers), both published in Hindi. The Times of India is the most widely read English language newspaper ( 7.900 million), followed by Hindustan Times (3.9 million),The Hindu(1.8 million),Eenadu (1.7 million), The Sakshi (1.45 million). Malayala Manorama newspaper which is published in Malayalam from currently has a readership of over 9.9 million (with a circulation base of over 2 million copies) has the most circulation in other languages.

However, in my research paper I would be concentrating on the English Dailies, whereby I would be giving a detailed description of these brands and comparing their marketing strategies and their overall distributions.

THE TIMES OF INDIA

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Punchline: Let truth prevail

Times Group History

The Times Of India was founded on November 3, 1838 as The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce, during the British Raj. Published every Saturday and Wednesday, The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce was launched as a bi-weekly edition. It contained news from Britain and the world, as well as the Subcontinent. The daily editions of the paper were started from 1850 and in 1861, the Bombay Times was renamed The Times of India after it was combined with three other newspapers. In the 19th century this newspaper company employed more than 800 people and had a sizable circulation in India and Europe. It was after India’s Independence that the ownership of the paper passed on to the then famous industrial family of Dalmiyas and later it was taken over by Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain of the Kunal Jain group from Bijnore, UP.

Currently The Times Group is the largest media services conglomerate in India. It is headed by a family of two brothers Samir and Vineet Jain. The company has eleven publishing centers, fifteen printing centers, fifty-five sales offices, Over 7000 employees, five dailies, including two of the largest in the country with approx 4.3 million, copies circulated daily, two lead magazines, twenty-nine niche magazines reaching 2468 cities and towns, thirty-two Radio Stations, two Television News Channels, one Television Life Style Channel and turnover in excess of USD 700 million, timesofindia.com (2010)

Times Brands

Its major brands include:

The Times of India, its the World’s largest English-language daily newspaper in terms of circulation.

The Economic Times, its the India’s largest financial daily, and the world’s second largest in terms of circulation after The Wall.

Street Journal

Maharashtra Times, India’s largest Marathi daily.

Navbharat Times, the largest Hindi Daily in Delhi and Mumbai.

Mumbai Mirror, India’s largest circulated compact newspaper.

Kolkata Mirror, a city specific online portal

Ahmedabad Mirror

Pune Mirror

Bangalore Mirror, Bangalore’s first morning compact daily

The Times of India – Kannada

Times Private Treaties, Partnering Ideas. Accelerating Growth.

Vijaya Karnataka, India’s largest Kannada daily.

Radio Mirchi – India’s largest FM radio network• Planet M – India’s largest chain of music stores

Zoom – Lifestyle television channel

Times Now – Television News channel (in association with Reuters)

Filmfare – India’s largest English film magazine (published in association with BBC)

Times Jobs – India’s leading job portal

SimplyMarry – India’s leading matrimonial portal

Magic Bricks – India’s premier real estate portal

According to the Indian Readership Survey (IRS) 2010, the Times of India is the most widely read English newspaper in India with a readership of 13.4 million. This ranks the Times of India as the top English newspaper in India by readership. According to ComScore, TOI Online is the world’s most-visited newspaper website with 159 million page views in May 2009, ahead of the New York Times, The Sun, Washington Post, Daily Mail and USA Today websites.

Supplements

The Times of India comes with several city-specific supplements, such as Calcutta Times, Bombay Times, Delhi Times, Hyderabad Times, Kanpur Times, Lucknow Times, , Nagpur Times, Bangalore Times, Indore Times, Pune Times, Ahmedabad Times and Chennai Times, The Times of South.

Tabloids:

Bangalore Mirror

Ahmedabad Mirror

Pune Mirror

Mumbai Mirror

Kolkata Mirror

Indore Mirror

Navbharat Times

Maharashtra Times

Mumbai Mirror

MILESTONES IN HISTORY OF THE TIMES

1838: The first edition appears on 3 November 1838, known as The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce.

1850: Shareholders decide to increase the share capital and now converted to a daily newspaper.

1892: Thomas Jewell Bennett becomes the editor and enters into a partnership with F.M. Coleman to form a joint stock company – Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. (BCCL).

1948: Sahu Jain Group became the owners of the company.

1952: Filmfare is launched.

1959: Femina is launched.

1961: The Economic Times is launched.

1991: BBC features The Times of India among the world’s six great newspapers.

1996: The Times of India crosses 1 million mark in circulation.

2009: Launch of ET Now – A business news channel

2012: Launch of The Times of India, Kerala Edition

THE HINDU

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Punchline: Because you deserve to know.

History:

The Hindu, was started in 1878 as a weekly, became a daily in 1889 and from then on has been steadily growing to the circulation of 14,66,304 copies (ABC: July-December 2009) and a readership of about 4.06 million.The first issue of The Hindu was published on September 20, 1878, by a group of six young men, led by G. Subramania Aiyer, a radical social reformer and school teacher from Thiruvaiyyar near Thanjavur. Aiyer, then 23, along with his 21-year-old fellow-tutor and friend at Pachaiyappa’s College, M. Veeraraghavachariar of chingleput, and four law students, T.T. Rangachariar, P.V. Rangachariar, D. Kesava Rao Pantulu and N. Subba Rao Pantulu were members of the Triplicane Literary Society. The British-controlled English language local newspapers had been campaigning against the appointment of the first Indian, T. Muthuswami Iyer, to the Bench of the Madras High Court in 1878. “The Triplicane Six,” in an attempt to counter the dominant attitudes in the English language press started The Hindu on one British rupee and twelve annas of borrowed money.

The assertive editorials of the newspaper earned The Hindu the nickname, the “Maha Vishnu of Mount Road.

After 1887, when the annual session of Indian National Congress was held in Madras, the paper’s coverage of national news increased significantly, and led to the paper becoming an evening daily starting April 1, 1889.

The Hindu uses modern facilities for news gathering, page composition and printing. It is printed in thirteen centers including the Main Edition at Chennai (Madras) where the Corporate Office is based. The printing centres at Coimbatore, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Madurai, New Delhi, Vizag, Thiruvanathapuram, Kochi, Vijayawada, Mangalore, Tiruchirapalli and Kolkata are connected with high speed data lines for news transmission across the country.

Currently The Hindu is family-run. It was headed by G. Kasturi from 1965 to 1991, N. Ravi from 1991 to 2003, and by his brother, N. Ram, from 27 June 2003 to 18 January 2012.

The Hindu Brands & Supplements

On Mondays : Education Plus, Metro Plus , Business Review

On Tuesdays : Metro Plus, Young World, Book Review

On Wednesdays : Job Opportunities, Metro Plus

On Thursdays : Nxg, Metro Plus, Science, Engineering, Technology & Agriculture

On Fridays : Friday Features, Cinema Plus

On Saturdays : Metro Plus Weekend, Property Plus

On Sundays : Weekly Magazine, Downtown, Retail Plus, Classifieds , Open Page, Literary Review , every first Sunday

Apart from broadsheet newspaper The Hindu, the group publishes:

The Hindu Business Line – Business Daily

Sportstar – Weekly Sports magazine

Frontline – Fortnightly magazine

Survey of Indian Industry – An annual review on Indian Industries

Survey of Indian Agriculture – An annual review on Indian Agriculture

Survey of the Environment – An annual review of the Environment

THE HINDU SPEAKS ON series – Libraries, Information Technology, Management, Education, Religious Values, Music, Scientific Facts.

FROM THE PAGES OF THE HINDU: Mahatma Gandhi – The

MILESTONES IN HISTORY OF THE HINDU

1940: First to introduce colour

1963: First to own fleet of aircraft for distribution

1965: The Times, London listed The Hindu as one of the world’s ten best newspapers

1969: First to adopt facsimile system of page transmission

1980: First to use computer aided photo composing

1986: First to use satellite for facsimile transmission

1994: First to adopt wholly computerised integration of text and graphics in page make-up and remote imaging

1995: First newspaper to go on Internet

Hindustan Times

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Punchline: Live Smart

HT History:

One of the leading English daily newspaper with an approximate circulation as reported by Audit Bureau of Circulation is 1.4 million copies as of 2010. The Indian Readership Survey 2011 calculated that HT has a readership of (37.37 lakhs), ranking it as the second most read English newspaper in India after The Times of India. Most popular in northern India. HT Media has became a major stock in BSE & NSE.

Produced by an editorial team known for its quality, innovation and integrity, Hindustan Times (English newspaper) and Hindustan (Hindi newspaper) have a carved a niche for themselves in print industry of India.

Hindustan Times came to existence in 1924 and was founded by Master Sunder Singh Lyallpuri, founder-father of the Akali movement and the Shiromani Akali Dal in Punjab.

Sadar Panikkar launched the Hindustan Times as a serious nationalist newspaper.

Currently the Delhi-based English daily Hindustan Times is a part of the KK Birla group and managed by Shobhana Bhartia, daughter of the industrialist KK Birla and granddaughter of GD Birla. It is owned by HT Media Ltd. The KK Birla group owns a 69 per cent stake in HT Media.

In addition to Hindustan Times, HT Media also publishes a national business newspaper, Mint. Mint is a unique newspaper in the sense that the company has an exclusive agreement with the Wall Street Journal to publish Journal-branded news and information in India.

Hindustan Times Brands & Supplements:

Print – English

Hindustan Times

Hindustan Times Supplements

Brunch

HT City and HT Cafe

HT Education

HT Estates

HT Live

Mint

HT Next

PACE

Metro Now

Mint Supplements

Mint – Clarity through Debate – Conclave

Print – Hindi

Hindustan

Nandan

Kadambini

Hindustan Supplements

Print & Digital Services

Internet

HindustanTimes.com

HT Syndicationc. LiveMint.com

Shine.com

HT Mobile 54242

Desimartini.com

Radio

Fever 104

MILESTONES IN HISTORY OF HINDUSTAN TIMES

September 26, 1924 : The date when Mahatma Gandhi inaugurated the newspaper Hindustan Times.

1927: Hindustan Times, became Hindustan Times Ltd., a limited liability company.

1936: The hindi version Hindustan is launched.

1942: The Hindustan Times became one of the few newspapers which stopped their publishing of the newspaper for four and a half months thus defying the British imposition of censorship on all newspapers.

1947: Hindustan Times became the dominant newspaper of Delhi.

1957: The newspaper circulation grew from 58,693 copies to 144,287 after KK Birla took over the baton from GD Birla.

1960: Launching of hindi literary magazine, Kadambini.

1964: Launched a youth magazine, Nandan.

1999: Completion of 75 years-Platinum Jubilee.

2000: Got more localised, five new editions for Calcutta, Bhopal, Ranchi, Chandigarh and Jaipur were launched.

2003: Got into HT Media Ltd.

2004: HT Media Ltd listed as a public company, thus attracting external funding.

2006: Fever 104 FM is launched, in collaboration with the Virgin Group.

2007: Mint, the business paper in partnership with the Wall Street Journal is launched in Delhi and Mumbai. Alongside Hindustantimes.com was relaunched and Livemint.com was introduced.

2008: Firefly e-Ventures, an HT Media Company came up with its first portal for job seekers, Shine.com; and alongwith it a social networkingwebsite Desimartini.com.

2009: HT Media ventured in the Mobile space with 54242 in partnership with velti.com