Surabhi Dahiya’s ‘Indian Media Giants’ offers glimpses into how the Indian media has evolved since Independence | Books and Literature News,The Indian Express
Through examples, anecdotes and interviews with six media houses, including The Indian Express, the writer traverses their strategies, growth and contribution to India’s socio-cultural landscape, writes Ramesh Menon
Through examples, anecdotes and interviews, she takes us through the time before Independence when the media primarily advocated for emancipation from British rule and focussed on nation-building after attaining freedom. Starting a newspaper before Independence was synonymous with the freedom movement, and profits were not on the horizon. The idea was to motivate people and make them think. However, it soon metamorphosed into a business proposition where profits mattered in a commercialised eco-system that punctuates the media today.
The six media houses featured are Bennett Coleman and Co.Ltd., (The Times of India), Indian Express Group, HT Media Limited (Hindustan Times), Kasturi and Sons (The Hindu), Jagran Prakashan Limited (Dainik Jagran) and DB Corp. Limited (Dainik Bhaskar ). They started small and then expanded with more editions and regional languages. It then moved into areas like TV, radio, websites, outdoor advertising, business enterprises like events and conferences, and even beauty pageants designed to generate more money.
After Independence, The Times of India launched a Hindi daily to expand into regional areas. Dainik Bhaskar, which launched its Hindi newspaper in Bhopal in 1958, soon had Gujarati and Marathi editions, becoming the third-largest circulated newspaper in the world. It moved to different states catering to local audiences. Similarly, Jagran Prakashan published 10 titles in five languages in 13 states. The Hindi readership overtook the English one.
In the ’50s, Indians loved reading about politics, but business journalism got a boost in the ’60s with the entry of The Financial Express and The Economic Times. New publications like India Today arrived in the ’70s, changing the magazine scenario.
When then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared an emergency in 1975, that lasted 21 months, censorship was imposed on the media. Ramnath Goenka’s The Indian Express, which was critical of the government’s move, came under government pressure. “There were accounts to acquire the paper, tax demands designed to undermine its financial viability and overt encouragement of advertisers to withdraw,” Dahiya writes. The Indian Express and Statesman left their editorials blank to register their protest. Around 7,000 journalists were arrested.
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