When
it comes to the freedom of the press, India ranks a dismal 142 out of the 180
countries. But it would be wrong to think that this is just a recent phenomenon.
As early as the late 1950s, a group of journalists were not happy at all with
the lack of freedom of press back in the day.
In
fact, the journalists of that era felt severe restrictions on the press from
the pro-profit minds of the management and the government. This went on to such
an extent that a group of top journalists started a newspaper owned by
them as well as the readers.
This
has an interesting backstory which was told to My Culture Café by one of the
senior-most journalists in India Sudha Hariharan, who has around 47 years of
experience. In the late 1950s, her father [name withheld] was the editor of a
known newspaper. The paper used to also come out with a tabloid bulletin in the
afternoon.
It
so happened that the editor was in the US for an event with fellow journalists.
He had kept an acting editor in the meantime. Exactly during this time, a known
company was coming up with a detergent brand for washing clothes.
“So
this detergent company contacted the acting editor as they wanted to publicize
their product,” said Sudha Hariharan. “I don’t know whether they paid money or
what the arrangement was. The entire tabloid from page one to the last page
only had advertisement of this detergent. There was not a single news. Plus, at
the bottom of a page my father’s name had appeared as a byline.”
When
the editor returned, he was shocked and asked the acting editor for an
explanation. “But he didn’t have any,” said Sudha Hariharan. “So this resulted
in an en masse resignations by him and other journalists working for the
newspaper. They walked out and started this independent newspaper called Newsday.”
She
tells us that they all were very well-established, well-known and well-reputed
journalists. “They were not happy with the way the newspaper was running. Secondly,
they had their own ideas on what they wanted to do. They all got together and
started Newsday. Their team also included Bal Thackeray and trade union leaders
like George Fernandes,” she said.
When
it came to investing capital in the new venture, Newsday got lucky. “They used
to put their savings. They were also helped by the trade union people with some
money. They raised money through the public by issuing public shares. It was
the first paper in which the public could buy shares for Rs 10,” said Sudha
Hariharan. The purchasers of the shares included some film-stars and people from
the Public Relations and advertisement sector.
She
added that taking help from trade unions didn’t mean that Newsday will support
every strike of theirs.
Interestingly,
they received words of encouragement even from the then Prime Minister
Jawaharlal Nehru. “Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s secretary wrote to say
that as a matter of principle the Prime Minister could not subscribe to the
shares, but wished the project every success,” added Sudha Hariharan.
But,
as encouraging as this may sound, Newsday could run only for 10 months. As you
may have guessed, the reason for the was financial. “Although they were very
senior journalists, the problem was that they were competing with well-established
newspapers in the market. Secondly, they didn’t have a proper place. They had
taken up a small office in Dalal Street itself,” she said.
She
continued, “In those days, they used to use linotype [machines for making
newspaper pages]. Their linotype composition used to be done, I think,
somewhere in Prabhadevi. They used to load the pages onto taxis and they used
to bring it to the printers.”
This
cost them a lot and printing was expensive then. “You are working in one place,
composing in another place and loading in another place. Then you are printing and
giving it to the guys who are distributing the papers. So, it was financially
tough. They also had to pay for supplying newsprint. Those who were supplying
newsprints were also pressurized by the established newspapers,” added Sudha
Hariharan.
They
then had no option but to wind up the paper after 10 months. Once they even
kept their principles at the backseat and took funding from Fatehsingh Gaikwad,
the then Deputy Minister of Defence. “It was a huge loss because everybody had put
in their money and savings. Half of the times they were also working without a
salary,” said Sudha Hariharan.
Each
member who was a part of the independent newspaper went different ways and took
up jobs in other publications while Thackeray, as we know, concentrated on Shiv
Sena. “My father joined USIS (United States Information Service) in Delhi.
Later he joined Hindustan Times. He continued there till he passed away,” she
said.
The
short journey of the newspaper was indeed sad but Sudha Hariharan is glad that
it happened. “It is interesting that such initiatives were undertaken. Whether
they survived or not is a different story altogether. The very fact that the
journalists took the initiative and had the guts to do it and fight against
well-established giants itself is a big thing,” she said.
But
she wonders why hardly anyone speaks about this, especially in journalism
circles. “I don’t know why it doesn’t find a mention anywhere in the history of
journalism. Nobody teaches this even in journalism school now. But it is an
important part of newspaper history in Bombay,” she signed off.
By: Keyur Seta
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