Do you think that with the growth of TV and internet in India, the print media has been sidelined? Give your comments.

A . The needs of the readers in the small towns and villages are different from that of the cities and the Indian languages newspapers cater to those needs. Dominant Indian language newspapers such as Malayala Manorama and the Eenadu launched the concept of local news in a significant manner by introducing district and whenever necessary, block editions. Dina Thanthi, another leading Tamil newspaper, has always used simplified and colloquial language.
B. While English newspapers, often called National Dailies, circulate across regions, vernacular newspapers have vastly increased their circulation in the states and the rural hinterland. In order to compete with the electronic media, newspapers, especially English language newspapers have on the one hand reduced prices and on the other hand brought out editions from multiple centres.
C.The growth of Indian nationalism was closely linked to its struggle against colonialism.
D.With the industrial revolution, the print industry also grew.
E.The first products of the press were restricted to an audience of literate elites. It was only in the mid-19th century, with further development in technologies, transportation and literacy that newspapers began to reach out to a mass audience.

1. It is often believed that with the growth of the Television and the Internet the print media would be sidelined. However, in India we have seen the circulation of newspapers grow.

2. New technologies have helped boot the production and circulation of newspapers. A large number of glossy magazines have also made their entry into the market.

3. The reasons for the growth in Indian newspapers are many.

4. There is a rise in the number of literate people who are migrating to cities. The Hindi daily Hindustan in 2003 printed 64,000 copies of their Delhi's edition, which jumped drastically in 2005, to 425,000. The reason was that of Delhi's population of one crore and forty seven lakh, 52% had come from the Hindi belt of the two states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Of this, 47% have come from a rural background and 60% of them are less than 40 years of age.

5. The needs of the readers in the small towns and villages are different from that of the cities and the Indian languages newspapers cater to those needs. Dominant Indian language newspapers such as Malayala Manorama and the Eenadu launched the concept of local news in a significant manner by introducing district and whenever necessary, block editions. Dina Thanthi, another leading Tamil newspaper, has always used simplified and colloquial language.

6. The Indian language newspapers have adopted advanced printing technologies and also attempted supplements, pull outs, and literary and niche booklets.

7. Marketing strategies have also marked the Dainik Bhaskar group's growth as they carry out consumer contact programes, doo-to-door surveys, and research. Thus, modem mass media has to have a formal structural organisation.

8. While English newspapers, often called National Dailies, circulate across regions, vernacular newspapers have vastly increased their circulation in the states and the rural hinterland. In order to compete with the electronic media, newspapers, especially English language newspapers have on the one hand reduced prices and on the other hand brought out editions from multiple centres.

9. The first modem mass media institution began with the development of the printing press.

10. The fist attempts at printing books using modem technologies began in Europe. This technique was first developed by Johann Gutenberg in 1440. Initial attempts at printing were restricted to religious books.

11. With the industrial revolution, the print industry also grew.

12. The first products of the press were restricted to an audience of literate elites. It was only in the mid-19th century, with further development in technologies, transportation and literacy that newspapers began to reach out to a mass audience.

13. People living in different comers of the country found themselves reading or hearing; the same news. It has been suggested that this was in many ways responsible for people across a country to feel connected and develop a sense of belonging or "we feeling". The well-known scholar Benedict Anderson has thus argued that this helped the growth of nationalism, the feeling that people who did not even know of each others existence feel like members of a family. It gave people who would never meet each other a sense of togetherness. Anderson thus suggested that we could think of the nation as an imagined community.

14. In the 19th century, social reformers debated and wrote in newspapers and journals.

15. The growth of Indian nationalism was closely linked to its struggle against colonialism.

16. It emerged in the wake of the institutional changes brought about by British rule in India. Anti-colonial public opinion was nurtured and channelized by the nationalist press, which was vocal in its opposition to the oppressive measures of the colonial state. This led the colonial government to clamp down on the nationalist press and impose censorship, for instance during the Ilbert Bill agitation in 1883.

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