8 Genesis and significance of newspapers

T. Radha

Introduction

A day without a newspaper is like a day without a cup of tea. This aphorism tells how a newspaper is important or any newspaper for that matter. Newspapers form a part in conversations especially in the morning times. People use newspapers as their reference. It proves to be a source of worldwide knowledge.

The genesis and the significance of newspapers is something that every human being must be aware of. The main focus of this notes is to tell the origin of the newspapers and how it is important to the people especially for the rural communities.

The origin of newspapers

The history of newspapers is worth to note. Moreover, it is very interesting to read. To know or learn about the origin of newspapers, one has to go five centuries back. It is the history or the experience of the people of the time before five centuries.

In Europe, during the period of Renaissance, hand written news letters were personally circulated to the merchants. The hand written newspapers had news about economic conditions, social customs, human interests, features etc.

They were small news pamphlets. They were produced only when something worthy of notice occured. The first successfully published newspaper was Weekly News. This paper was published in the year 1622. It was followed during 1640s and 1650s in different titles in the same newsbook format.

In the year 1666 came the London Gazette. It remained as the sole official newspaper throughout the generation, all though many periodicals entered into the premise.

The origin of newspapers in America.

Historically speaking, the newspapers began late in America when compared to Britain.

The first newspaper in America was published in the city of Boston entitled as Public Occurrences. It was published in the year 1690. It was heavily suppressed. The publisher was arrested. Then the newspaper was completely destroyed. One copy of the newspaper was restored in the London library. The first successful newspaper in America was Boston News-letters. It was started by John Campbell in the year 1704. Two more newspapers appeared in 1720. With the help of the newspapers, revolutionaries were able to spread the ideas of protest against the colonial government among the people.

The evolution of newspapers

Newspapers became far more common in the late 19th century. In the 18th century and the early 19th century stamp duty was charged on newspaper. Daily Graphic published in 1890. In 1891 it became the first British newspaper to print a photo.

In India, the earlier newspapers were printed in the regional languages. Bengal Gazette was the first newspaper which was printed in India. In the earlier stage especially before independence, newspapers gave much importance to the Indian freedom movement. The vernacular

Act was passed against the freedom of the press. But later, the act was abolished giving the Indian reporters their freedom to write.

In the present world, features, headlines, body, advertisements, human interest stories, photographs of celebrities etc, form a part of newspapers. It gives colourful appearance to the audience.

Significance of newspapers

Newspapers play an important role in human lives. Newspapers act as a platform to get information from all over the world. It brings the disseminated information to our doorsteps. It plays a crucial role in the empowerment of rural communities. It has many abilities which the modern inventions like radios, televisions, computers and networks do not have.

Cheapest means of communication

Newspapers are the cheapest means of communication. The cost of newspapers are very low when compared to the radios or televisions.

To use radio, one need to have electric connection. The cost of electricity is comparatively high. In the same way, to use television, one need to have electric connection, aerial or cable connection. They sound high in cost. People use internets to get information. But the cost of bringing internet inside our homes is very high.

All the above given media may be palatable for the people who can afford them. But the main purpose of the public media should not stop reaching one particular group. It should satisfy the needs of the people from all the communities. Newspapers serve this purpose. Being the cheapest means of communication, even the people from the very lower strata of the society can buy and read them . It is simple as, one can get all the information within five rupees. In this way, newspapers help in the development of the people especially the rural communities.

Variety of news

• Newspapers provide a variety of news. It has all kinds of news including:
• International news
• National news
• Regional news
• News about sports
• Features
• Human interest stories
• News about the celebrities
• News about education
• Entertainment news
• Business news
• News about technologies
• Advertisements    etc

    Reading a newspaper can give information about all the fields in the world. The newspapers develop the interest of the people on different fields. For example, if a person is not aware of sports or games, by reading the sports column in the newspapers, he may develop an interest towards sports. In the same way, some people may be influenced by the business column in the newspapers.

The newspapers satisfy the needs of all the people from all over the world. It gives information about education to the students and teachers. It also gives information about business to the people belong to the area of Commerce. Likewise, it provides information about Literature to the lovers of Literature. It also gives information about celebrities to please their fans. The advertisements in the newspapers help the consumers in an immense way. The newspapers give importance to the regional news. One section of the newspaper is dedicated to the regional news. People feel happy to read about their surroundings. News about the culture and tradition also attract the attention of the people.

If a man is looking for a job, newspapers provide him with a list of jobs in a regular basis. In the newspapers, the jobs are advertised with the full contact details. Therefore, this will help the people who are looking for a job. The advent of the newspapers simplify the great and hectic task of finding a job.

Therefore, it is very clear that newspapers are not restricted to any particular area or people. It serves for all the people and communities. It helps the people of the rural areas to know or learn about new things and inventions. It is because of the newspapers, rural communities update themselves with upcoming ideas and genres. In this way newspapers help in the development of rural communities.

Improve vocabularies

Newspapers help to improve vocabularies both in the regional and the international languages. Every news agency has at least one editor, sub-editor, reporter, copy writer etc. Therefore, before the publication of a newspaper, it undergoes a lot of cross-checkings. Hence, the refined vocabularies in the languages are used in the newspapers. This help the people to learn new vocabularies. Sometimes, they may inspire the people to use the newly learned words in their day today life. When a studious student from rural community reads the English newspapers like The Hindu, The Times of India, The Hindustan Times, Indian Express, The Sun, The New York Times etc he or she learns many new words and sentence structures. This will help him/her to learn the nuances in a language. Therefore, newspapers prove to be a learning ground for the people from all over the world.

  Source of entertainment

Human life is like a fast -moving wheel. Therefore, they need some entertainment or some relaxation. In this case, newspapers play a significant role.

There is one column in most of the newspapers which is dedicated for the comic strips. While seeing or reading the comic strips, people come out of their worries and enjoy the comic strips. It may be a few seconds enjoyment, but that happiness is something which is valuable.

Moreover, the news about cinema proves to be a source of entertainment. The people who are unable to afford television or radio takes delight in reading cinema news. In the same way, the sports news give delight to people who cannot watch the games on television and to the people who cannot go the venue directly to watch the games. Hence, the newspapers often act as source of entertainment especially for the people who belong to the rural areas who cannot spend money on electronic goods.

Accessibility

Accessibility is one of the major advantages of newspapers. Imagine can we use mobiles or internet in a place which has no tower at all? The mobiles or tabs will become mum when we reach the corner of the city. There is no such problem as far as the newspapers are concerned. They are accessible at any place at anytime. There is no requirement of tower or electricity to access the newspapers. For example, during the Chennai floods times, newspapers were the main source for information because most of the places in Chennai lost electricity and there was no tower. In those circumstances, newspapers served a great role. Moreover, many people in Chennai during flood times searched for the newspapers to pass the boredom hours. Newspapers also play a great role in the hilly areas and the nook and corners of the city. The first reason being the people over there will not have sufficient means to go for other media. The second reason being there will not be network connection as in the cities. Thereby, it is obvious that the newspapers can be accessed by everyone including the people belonging to the rural areas to whom most of the other media are denied.

No language threat

Language plays an important role in every part of human life. Without language, communication is impossible. English has become a global language. Therefore, most of the media use English as their primary language. The people who do not know English cannot use the media in which the programmes are broadcast in English. One cannot use laptops or mobile phones or tablets, unless he is acquainted to the basic English.

There is no such issue as far as newspapers are concerned. The newspapers are printed in the regional languages like:

• Tamil
• Malayalam
• Kannada
• Telugu
• Urudu
• Gugarati
• Marathi
• Oriya
• Punjabi
• Bengali

And in all the other Indian languages. Newspapers are available for French and Chinese people. Language is not at all a threat to read newspapers. Almost every language has got its own newspaper. For example, if a Tamilian wants to read news about his state or about his country, he can read newspapers like Dinakaran, Dinamani, Dinamalar , etc, which are available in his own mother tongue. Rural people find the English language as a challenging one. For them, newspapers give news about the entire world in their comfortable language. Thus they play a vital role in the empowerment of rural communities.

Portability

Can we imagine to carry our desktop or laptop wherever we go? It would be a hectic job. They are not as portable as the newspapers. Being portable is one of the pros of newspapers. We can carry newspapers wherever we go. It is because it is very handy. Moreover, it is weightless. The people in the rural areas live in a small undersized house. In such a case, they can have newspapers to know about the happenings of the world. It will occupy only a very little place in their house and therefore, they will not face the demand for place in their homes. Newspapers being portable help all sorts of people particularly the rural communities.

Source of awareness

Newspapers act as a great source of awareness. The newspapers give information about health, finance, gold rate, job opportunities etc. Newspapers also create awareness about the environmental issues like global warming, green house effect, the threat of plastics etc. Some newspapers create awareness among the women about the importance of breast feeding. The people who read the newspapers follow the awareness which they gained from the newspapers in their regular lives. Thereby their standard of living improves. In this way, newspapers play a significant role in the development of the status of people. Especially the people of the rural areas learn most of their lessons from the newspapers.

Encourage writers

Newspapers and its related agencies provide a great platform for the budding writers. Most people have the habbit of scribbling poems in their notes or diaries. Sometimes, it will disappear unnoticed and so their talents.

Newspaper agencies provide a huge chance for the willing writers. They can send their writings may be a poem or an essay or a comic strip or a short story. If it is good enough for publication, they will be published in the newspaper. Seeing our names printed on the pages of the newspaper is something great. The people from the rural areas can send their writings to the regional news agencies. In this manner, newspapers provide a way to express and reveal the hidden talents of the people particularly those who belong to the rural areas.

Rural newspaper

A rural newspaper has been defined as one that is primarily published from a rural area, devoting at least 50 per cent of its contents to the problems relating to the rural community, in a language a kin to the idiom of the rural readers.

A rural newspaper can play a vital role as significantly as a local radio station. People want information on their surroundings of the rural press will have to be formulated, considering the interest of local leaders and the community in particular. The rural newspaper has to be uses an intimate approach at the reader’s level for writing news and articles for its rather limited readers and thus in a way it acts as the mouth piece of the community. The rural newspaper can gain popularity only with its credibility in the community. The advertisers also will come forward as their target audience is also local people and they need not pay high cost for an advertisement in a rural newspaper. The rural newspaper should cover the local news in order to satisfy the local people, because it is not possible for regional and national newspaper, to cater to the needs of the local people. The rural newspaper may not earn profits economically but may earn social development leading to rural uplift. Now a day’s voluntary organizations in the rural areas are flooding with finances from different sources. They can take up this activity. But they cannot stop at the level of disseminating information about their own projects and schemes but should consider the need of the local people; accordingly the news can be published in the rural newspaper. For instance, the introduction of new crop varieties along with their improvement cultivation practices. Agricultural and rural development technologies are changing so fast that their relevance lasts only for a short span. In such a situation the local media can play a positive role.

Role of full fledged daily

A rural newspaper will have to cater informational, national and state level news, in brief and the local news in detail. But it may be difficult for a rural newspaper to gather international and national news because it may be cost effective for the rural newspaper to subscribe to the teleprinter services of the news agencies. The rural newspaper will have two to three sub-editors, may be part time to curtail the cost to man the desk. Since, the main thrust area for a rural newspaper is the local news, two to three reporters will have to be there to take care of the district and sub divisional level news. They also may be part timers.

In this process, a full fledged ,morning newspaper may be brought out from rural areas since local people will get a newspaper in the morning containg all sorts of news. Local people in the sub-division and the district will automatically buy this newspaper because they get the news before they leave for their place of work .

If the circulation of this rural newspaper increases, the advertisement will also flow as in these days there are lot of business establishments and service sectors in the rural areas, who will have to inform the local people about their products or services. Obviously, they will come in large numbers to advertise in these rural newspaper as their target audience is also local people and they won’t have to bear the high cost of giving an advertisement in a big newspaper. For this the rural newspaper can appoint more than one commission agent.

Role of Indian press in rural development

In the context of the conditions of villages in India, the journalists have a great role to play to bring about a new climate. Journalism is a social trust. Journalists are social workers. They are the agents of social change. They should have the message of hope and aspiration to the teaming millions who live under the clouds of frustration in rural areas. They should guide the people to change the quality of life, through better agriculture and environment, better health and education.

The rural press

Newspapers are mostly concentrated in metropolitan and big cities and cater primarily for city dwellers and only marginally for readers in the rural areas. In spite of the fact that India is the second largest publisher of daily newspaper with bulk of them appearing in the Indian languages, only a few of them seep into rural areas. Even those which cater to the rural areas suffer inadequacies of editorial direction and management. Some Indian language newspapers give fair coverage of rural problems.

Scope of rural press

A rural newspaper can come up very well with bright future having its own charactertestics, qualities, prestige and position in the society. It can also compete with today’s powerful electronic media and big modern and technologically upgraded city based newspapers. In the modern multimedia set up in the society, there exists a place for rural newspaper, if the rural newspaper can be produced tactically and professionally to meet the demands of the readers for local news, which no other media be it print or electronic, can cater. But if a rural newspaper has to survive, it should be economically viable. So, a rural newspaper will have to fill up the gap left by the big newspaper, radio or television.

People oriented approach

The rural newspaper should be participatory and people-oriented one which is very different from the conventional (urban) newspaper. It is publication by and for the rural people. Its content is focused on the rural community. The language must be the language spoken by the people.

The rural communities have always had their communication networks which are used for enlightenment, entertainment and festivals, and for giving expression to cultural and social activities. In this situation, it becomes the duty of the rural press to monitor the traditional media for agendas which the rural community is expressing through them.

Providing functional knowledge

The rural newspaper enables the members of the groups to practice writing and it is the reading material for the neo-literates. The participatory rural newspaper is a piece of literature with information supplied from out of their own life situations. Such information allows the people to identify themselves with the publication. The rural newspaper can provide functional knowledge to the rural people on health, hygiene, agriculture etc,

The rural newspaper can assist in the adoption of appropriate technology, developing local resources and promote innovations in the conventional production areas/methods. The rural newspaper should be a window to the “world outside”. The development/success stories reported on it can be used for publication in the national publications. What matters here is that the rural newspaper is serving its purpose as a free forum for discussing and projecting the life situation of its rural community.

It is the responsibility of the rural newspaper to safeguard and promote the cultural practices that have been valuable and useful to the rural community. The participatory rural newspaper is one which can help in realizing the much discussed concept of the rural press as a very favorable and conducive situation has been created by the national literacy programme and there can be communication for all.

Conclusion

From the above content, it is very clear that how the newspapers play a significant role in human lives. The first part gave a brief introduction on the origin and the evolution of the newspapers.

The second part focused on how newspapers are useful in day- today life. As mentioned earlier, newspapers give information about every field may it be sports or technology or science or business or education. Its main purpose is to educate, entertain and enlighten the people especially the rural communities. They also play a crucial role in the societal development by giving news about awareness. Being portable, cheap and accessible, newspapers prove to be a significant media of communication chiefly for rural communities.

References and Web links

• Renganathan N. 1996. Mass media and rural India: Isssues and challenges, Kurukshetra, 44
• (4&5): 103- 105.
• Mishra and Singh. 2000. Struggle for rural development. Common wealth publishers, New Delhi
• https://www.iaspaper.net>importance-of-news-paper
• www.4ucampus.be>upload>news-paper