Tamil Journalism

The first Tamil periodical was published by the Christian Religious Tract Society in 1831- The Tamil Magazine. The increasing demand of the literate public caused a number of journals and periodicals to be published and these in turn provided a platform for authors to publish their work. Rajavritti Bodhini and Dina Varthamani in 1855 and Narasimhalu Naidu's fornightlies, Salem Desabhimini in 1878 and Coimbatore Kalanidhi in 1880, were the earliest Tamil journals. The first regular newspaper in Tamil was Swadesamitran in 1882, started by G.Subramaniya Iyer, founder, editor and sponsor of The Hindu and founding member of the Indian National Congress. He created a whole new Tamil political vocabulary. He was conscious that those with a knowledge of English are a small number and those with a knowledge of Indian languages the vast majority. He felt that unless our people were told about the objectives of British rule and its merits and defects in the Indian languages, our political knowledge would never develop. Subramania Aiyer, an Anglophile in his early years, saw himself as a bridge of understanding and communication between the ruler and the ruled. When Subramania Aiyer quit The Hindu 1898, he made the Swadesamitran his full-time business. In 1899, after a brief stint as a tri weekly, it became the first Tamil daily. Subramania Aiyer's "pugnacious style, made the Swadesamitran sought by Tamils wherever they lived in the world. And the daily became even more popular when Subramania Bharati joined it in 1904. The next year, when Lala Lajpat Rai was arrested and agitation followed in the Punjab, Subramania Aiyer's attitude to the British changed and he became a trenchant political critic of the Raj. His whole political gospel can be summed up in these words: `Peaceful but tireless and unceasing effort.' Let us sweat ourselves into Swaraj, he would seem to say." Swadesamitran is credited for coining new Tamil words to deal with science, politics and administration. It had the most comprehensive budget of news among all the regional language papers of that time. In 1917, Desabhaktan, another Tamil daily began with T.V. Kalyansundara Menon as editor. He was succeeded by V.V.S. Iyer, a colleague of the Savarkar brothers. These two editors were scholars with a natural, highly readable but polished style of writing. Swadesmitran was to enjoy this status for 17 years - and even thereafter did not meet any real challenge till Swararajya started in 1925, Tamil Nadu in 1927 and Dinamani in 1934, but they too were unable to shake the Swadesamitran's primacy till the 1950s. Seriously ill in 1915, Subramania Aiyer persuaded A. Rangaswami Iyengar, Kasturi Ranga Iyengar's nephew and right-hand man at The Hindu, to take over the paper and he made the Swadesmitran "a new force, potent and pervasive... (changing) the placid atmosphere of Tamil Journalism". It grew to become a literay masterpiece of political analysis. When Rangaswmi Iyengar returned to The Hindu in 1928 to become a memorable editor, C Srinivasan bought him out. And the readers of theSwadesamitran discovered what a trenchant

writer Srinivasan could be. He made the paper a great success. After his death in 1962, the paper began to fade, especially in the face of the `new journalism' introduced by the Dina Thanthi. And by the 1970s, the end was inevitable, a sad end to a paper that had created Tamil Journalism. The freedom movement and the advent of Gandhi also impacted Tamil journalism. Navasakthi, a Tamil periodical edited by Tamil scholar and freedom fighter V. Kalyanasundaram. C. Rajagopalachari began Vimochanam, a Tamil journal devoted to propagating prohibition at the Gandhi Ashram in Tiruchengode in Salem district. In 1926, Dr P. Vadarajulu Naidu, who was conducting a Tamil news-cum-views weekly Tamil Nadu started a daily with the same name. Its forceful and colluqial style gained it a wide readership but after the paper failed to take sides with the 1930 Civil Disobedience Movement, the Congress Party decided to bring out a new Tamil daily- India, edited by renowned poet Subramania Bharati. India showed great promise but could not establish itself financially, and folded up soon after Bharati was exiled to Pondicherry. All these papers were published from Madras. In 1933, the first Tamil tabloid- the 8 page Jayabharati began at a price of anna. It closed in 1940 as the price could not sustain even its postage. In September 1934, S. Sadanand (who was running the FPJ) started the Tamil daily Dinamani with T. S. Chockalingam as editor. It was priced at 6 pies, contained bright features and was fearlessly critical. It was highly successful and its circulation eclipsed the total circulation of all other Tamil dailies. Soon India was incorporated into Dinamani. Dinamani made a studied and conscious effort to make the contents of a newspaper intelligible even to the newly literate. In 1935, Viduthalai was begun, but it was more of a views-paper than a newspaper. The Non-Brahman Movement also gave an impetus to Tamil journalism. Newspapers like the Bharat Devi were strong supporters of this movement. Many magazines began in Tamil Nadu during the 1920s and '30s. The humour magazine Ananda Vikatan started by S.S. Vasan in 1929 was to help create some of the greatest Tamil novelists. It is still running successfully after 80 years and the Vikatan group today also publishes Chutti Vikatan, Junior Vikatan, Motor Vikatan and other special interest magazines. R. Krishnamurthy serialised his short stories and novels in Ananda Vikatan and eventually started his own weekly Kalki. The name Kalki denotes the impending tenth Avatar of Lord Vishnu in the Hindu religion, who it is said, will bring to an end the Kali Yuga and reinstate Dharma or righteoueness among the worldly beings. He used the name because he wanted to bring about liberation of India. In 1942, Dina Thanthi (Daily Telegraph) was started in Madurai with simultaneous editions in Madras, Salem and Tiruchirappalli. It was founded by S.P. Adithanar, a lawyer trained in Britain. He modeled Thanthi on the style of an English tabloid- The Daily Mirror. He aimed to bring out a newspaper that ordinary people would read, and which would encourage a reading habit even among the newly literate. In the past, the daily newspaper which was printed in Madras reached the southern Tamil region after at least one day. Thanthi used the public bus system to distribute the paper throughout the south Tamil region and capitalized

on the hunger for war news that arose after Singapore fell to the Japanese. Due to financial constraints, its Salem and Tiruchirappalli editions had to be closed down for a while. Thanthi emphasized local news, especially crime and the courts. It used photographs extensively and brought banner headlines to Tamil journalism. It could fit one story on an entire broadsheet page, mainly filled with large easy-to-read headlines. One of its biggest scoops was the murder of the editor of a scandalous film magazine by two actors. Thanthi covered the trial in Madras in detail, and its reporters phoned the daily account to the printing centre in Madurai. Thanthi was the first Tamil paper to understand the peoples fascination with crime and film stars. The paper was popular and it was said that Tamils learned to read in order to read the newspaper. Dina Thanthi became one of the largest Tamil language dailies by circulation within a few years; it has been a leading Tamil daily since the 1960s. It has today 14 editions. It is the highest circulated Tamil daily in Bangalore and Pondicherry.