NEWSPAPER
The Untamed History of
Bengal Gazette M
edia are called as the fourth pillar of democracy and in a democratic country like India media have a huge role to play. The freedom of speech and expression exercised by the media today has a long untamed history of struggle behind it. Print media were the first form of media as such to evolve in the country, in that Newspaper stands as the forbearer to other forms of print journalism. Even today in most of the Indian streets the dawn is marked by the Newspaper feeding the curious brains. Scanning for the news of the day, had any one thought about the evolution of newspaper in India? Did anyone know about the Father of Indian Journalism? British brought the seeds of journalism to India. The first wave
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January 2020
Vandana S Vinod of printing swept across the land through Hickey. He started the first newspaper in India, ‘The Calcutta General Advertiser’ or ‘The Bengal Gazette’ which later came to be popular as ‘Hickeys Gazette’. Hickey was the writer, publisher and the editor of the newspaper. Hickey’s life as well as the newspaper’s growth can be broadly classified into two stages. The two page newspaper with three columns on each page on the initial phase tried to cover important events in Calcutta. He wrote about politics, world news and events in India. The Poet’s corner, encouraged people to write letters and poems to Hickey. The witty and satirical writing magnetized people towards the paper. One such prominent example is how he Executive Knowledge Lines
