History of journalism

picture source: cover of book by J.Natarajan

 Journalism has always been a very prominent field in India especially in the sphere of politics. Journalism may also be counted as a main reason for Indian independence. The first Indian news paper ” Bengal Gazette ” was launched by James Augustus Hickey and he is also regarded as the father of Indian journalism. The same news paper was agained published in 1817 under Indian administration. It was published by Gangadhar Bhattacharjee.

The vernacular Press Act was proposed by Lord Lytton , the then viceroy of India . The act curtailed the freedom of non- English newspapers in India. The main reason was to prevent Indian origin newspapers from expressing criticism of British Policies. James Silk Buckingham was a British author who launched his 8 page biweekly called the ” Calcutta Journal “ . The ” Calcutta Journal ” gave a deeper insight into politics and literary news .

 The Newspaper (incitement to offence) Act of 1908 provided magistrates the authority to seize press assets that published unacceptable information that might inspire murder or other violent crimes. action.The Indian Press Act, which replaced the Vernacular Press Act in 1910, gave local governments the authority to forfeit or deregister newspapers they deemed to be anti-government and to demand a sizable amount of security from printers and publishers at the time of registration. Printers also had to give local governments two copies of each issue of each newspaper they published. On the advice of, the acts of 1908 and 1910 were repealed in 1921. 

● Role of journalism:

News and information provision is journalism's main function. A journalist can write or deliver in a variety of genres and styles, and journalism can take many different forms. For instance, a journalist can write articles on a variety of subjects or cover daily, breaking, and investigative news. A journalist today has the ability to produce a variety of content that may not be considered to be newsworthy or journalism at all. This type of journalism is known as lifestyle journalism and it focuses on news about things like travel, food, luxury, clothing, cars, fashion, and sex. On the environment or health, a journalist might write. A content writer might also be a journalist