Chapter – Iii Print Media – an Overview

CHAPTER – III PRINT MEDIA – AN OVERVIEW POINT CONTENTS PAGE 3.1 Media and Print Media 55 3.2 Origin of Print Media in the World 56 3.3 Print Media in other countries 58 3.4 Origin of Print Media in India 61 3.5 Historical Developments of print media in India 67 3.6 Legal aspects of print media in India 79 3.7 Origin of Print Media in Maharashtra 84 3.8 Social Responsibility and Media 86 3.9 References 90 54 CHAPTER – III PRINT MEDIA – AN OVERVIEW In this chapter, an overview of print media has been discussed by considering different aspects like Media, Print Media, Historical Developments of print media in India, Print media in other countries, Legal aspects of print media in India and Social Responsibility and Media. 3.1 Media and Print Media: Communication is the most important tool for the development as well as empowerment of the society. It has been found that millions of people are deprived of their benefits due to the exclusion from a wide range of information and knowledge, which can improve their lives. Print media is a traditional media and also one of the basic forms of communication. The strength of print media has been derived from its experience during the freedom struggle where the print media played a significant role in social emancipation, reform and amelioration. It is important to understand that print media includes newspaper, weeklies, magazines, monthlies and many other forms of printed journals. Thus, there is a remarkable contribution of print media in providing knowledge, transfer and proliferation of information. It is vital to note that the advent of electronic media has not wiped out the charm or relevance of the print media. The various forms of media that are extensively used today are newspapers, internet papers and editions, electronic news media, social networking websites etc. Newspapers normally consist of articles and reports that are related to current affairs and it is the first choice of the common man because it is a customary affair to read the newspaper over a cup of tea. People read the newspaper for news, entertainment and information. Internet papers and editions are computer based and have no country barriers. These news editions can be accessed from any part of the world. Almost all newspapers have their internet editions. Some newspapers are published only on the internet. They are free of charge and available worldwide. Other forms of print media are magazines, weeklies, but they are not newspapers. They form a part of print media and are published at regular intervals. The electronic news media makes use of the internet. The IPL (Internet Public Library) is a concise internet source of information on Indian newspaper. 55 3.2 Origin of Print Media in the World: Print media is one of the oldest and basic forms of mass communication. It includes newspapers, weeklies, magazines, monthlies and other forms of printed journals. A basic understanding of the print media is essential in the study of mass communication. The contribution of print media in providing information and transfer of knowledge is remarkable. Even after the advent of electronic media, the print media has not lost its charm or relevance. Print media has the advantage of making a longer impact on the minds of the reader, with more in-depth reporting and analysis. Print media generally refers to newspapers. Newspapers collect, edit and print news reports and articles. There are newspapers published in the evening also. They are called eveningwears. Newspapers play a very important role in our daily life. 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. 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. 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 Gutenberg of Germany had developed printing technology around 1439. Gutenberg 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 the Portuguese language in Old Goa. It was Doctrina Christa by St. Francis Xavier. The invention of printing has revolutionized mass communication. Books are printed in 56 large numbers and circulated in many countries. No other invention has had such an influence in the history of mankind. 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. Newsletters circulated by rulers were the first form of newspapers. In India, the East India Company circulated such newsletters. According to the World Association of Newspapers, the first newspaper in the modern sense was published by Johann Carlos in 1605. In 1609, another newspaper was started from Germany called “File”. Yet another newspaper in the modern concept was published from Venice called “The Gazette”. But many such earlier newspapers could not survive for long. The rulers were not happy with these publications as some of them started criticising their rule. So many papers were forced to close down. In the USA, a newspaper "The Public Occurrences" lasted only for a day. Similar was the fate of the "Daily Paper" started by James Asher in the UK. Newspapers underwent a lot of changes in their form and content after that. 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 the USA, the first newspaper was "Public Occurrences", which was launched in 1690. Postmaster John Campbell started another paper in 1704, "The Boston Newsletter". In 1783, "Pensilvania Evening Post" was started in the USA that had all the features and content of a modern newspaper. Later in 1851 came "The New York Times". 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. 57 3.3 Print Media in other countries: After covering the life history in terms of the law as well as progress with respect to the print media in India, it is a necessity to study the progress of Print Media in the modern world. It would involve the growth of English as well as vernacular language newspapers in India. In the coming paragraphs, there is a detailed study of the progress the print media made in the post-Independence era. At the time of Independence, the total number of publications that existed in the country was only 3533. Out of these, 330 were daily newspapers and 3203 were periodicals. It has been observed that after 50 years of Independence, there was a 12 fold increase in the number of publications. In the year 1997, the Registrar of the newspaper of India published a data, which said that there were 41,705 publications amongst which 4719 were daily newspapers. In the year 2006, the number has gone 45600 with respect to publications amongst which 5600 are daily newspapers. Presently, India has 398 major newspapers which have their circulation all over the country, with almost 30772000 copies getting published every day. According to the world statistics, India has the largest newspaper market after China. Comparatively, it has been found that the newspaper industry in Europe and America is struggling. Interestingly, it has been found through studies that the world’s top three countries with respect to newspaper circulation are China, Followed by India, which is further followed by Japan. China publishes 98.70 million copies, India publishes 88.90 million copies and Japan publishes 69.10 million copies.

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