Newspapers in India are similar to any other form of a newspaper. It is printed to inform, enlighten and entertain the people on various topics of interest. In earlier times, the newspapers were published as a small sheet with four pages. But gradually as time progressed, it has been transformed into a much bigger newspaper that has covered almost all aspects of news and information. When did newspaper started in India? Well, it was actually published from the English language newspapers from the British colonization period.
Newspaper in India started publishing from English language newspapers. This was done as a response to the huge demand of Indian English newspaper readership. Initially the newspapers published in English were of limited circulation and there were very less people who read them. This was because of the low number of newspaper readers. Times had changed drastically by the time and newspaper readership drastically increased in the country.
The first newspaper published in India was the Punjabi newspaper. Later on the dutch language newspaper Deutshe Kewras became more popular and began to be circulated in the English printing houses. The circulation of English newspapers in the sub-continent was poor in the beginning but with the improvement in English language, the demand of the newspaper market grew and now the situation is completely different. The circulation of English newspapers has grown tremendously in the last couple of years and is now almost equal to the circulation of dutch newspapers.
Initially when there was no budget for the newspaper marketing in the sub-continent, only the big names of the industry were into it. But now as the scenario is totally different, there are number of small newspapers having their own online presence which is becoming very popular with the Indian readers. This has opened doors for the smaller newspapers to have a wider coverage of topics. Even the smaller states like Rajasthan, Kerala and Telangana is getting introduced into the Indian scene through the medium of online publications. When the first newspaper printed in India was The Outlook, it started a century long tradition of journalism in the sub-continent. With the help of the modern printing press, the first newspaper successfully printed news and other information in English.
The popularity of the British newspapers gained immensely with the end of the rule by the British. The freedom to write and criticize in the Indian press is now enabled with certain boundaries imposed by the apex court. The freedom of speech is now ensured within limits defined by the constitution. The right of the press to advertise was banned initially and is yet to be allowed again. As compared to the british newspaper industry, the Indian newspaper industry has not been affected too badly.
The rise of the first newspaper in India can be traced back to the days of Bapu Pillai who was the editor in chief of the first English daily newspaper in the country, published from Calcutta. This Indian newspaper was the first to be published from the printing presses set up by the British. The first British newspaper published from Calcutta was the Indian Patriot. These early newspapers established the foundation of the modern Indian newspaper industry. The first decade of the new century saw the establishment of a number of new newspapers.
It was the Indian Express which changed the way the Indian newspapers were written and presented. It is the newspaper that first brought in news through advertisements in the form of columns. The first newspaper to present advertisements in the form of columns was the Indian Ghazi magazine. The first Indian newspaper to have its own cartoon department was the Indian Illustrated Weekly. The first Indian newspaper to have a news department and a cartoon department was the Indian Journal. The first national daily newspaper to appear in the English language was the Indian Monthly, published from Calcutta.
After the British had departed from the sub-continent, the demand for English newspapers waned. As the people who used to read the English newspapers started using the Urdu language to read the news, the demand for an English newspaper also decreased. But the demand for an Indian newspaper never died and it kept on being published in the sub-continent till the time of independence.
