The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1879-08-23
journalism In India.

These native journals are very singular
affairs. They are purely product of tl,s
import of Western civilization upon thu
Eastern mind, the first one ever issued II
the country bearing the date of 1878
Their circulation, as rule, is very small
sometimes merely nominal although oe.
casionally, when the price is very low
cent copy or less-rfhe number pub
lished may run up towards thousand
OF the SO yernacular newspapers pub.
lished IN the north west provinces in 1872
the average circulation was only 1862. and
even of these the government took q
large proportion, chiefly for the use of its
school teachers and to encourage the fee.
Bile efforts of Indian journalism in its in.
fancy. The AHdhabad institute Gazette had
the largest number of subscribers (no less
than SSl but of these only 19l were ma
i've; 1U0 copies were taken by the gov-
ernment, 80 by Europeans and SO were
exchanged. One paper. the Baddh ProE-
ash, issued l05 copies, of which 100 went
TO the government and to natives: the
Jdgdt iSdmdcsdr issued 81, of which so
were taken by the government. S were
exchanged, was taken by an European
and by native. This is truly the day
OF small things. But these that we have
mentioned are rather extreme cases.
Three OF the native journals in these same
northwest provinces had each from 200
to $50 native subscribers; and in Bengal
and Bombay, where public opinion is
more advanced and education more diff
fused, the figures are much better. The
AHlritd Bdzdr Pdtrika, published weekly At
Calcutta-a very fierce and spirited little
sneet, bitterly antagonistic to the English
rule, never weary of pointing out its de
fects, and hence correspondingly dear to
the native heart is said to have the
largest circulation among the native
press, us subscribers numbering upwards
OF l400 Not all the native papers have
this tone OF dissatisfaction with their
rulers, but 1t is strongly characteristic of
them. Ine character of the English
papers III this country is less peculiar
The chief traits about them which strike
one fresh from contact with the yigor and
power of American journalism are their
mediocrity, lack of enterprise, and general
dullness. 1t is easy to explain why they
are, as rule, thus fiat and uninteresting.
Their scope is very limited in every way.
There is great dearth of live topics.
Though India has nearly three hundred
million of inhabitants, it is only a very
small fraction of these that can be taken
into account by the journalist, either as
furnishing him with themes to write
about, or people to read what he has
written. The earthly history of nearly
all these millions can be summed up in q
brief sentence: they are born, they work
hard to keep soul and body together for
brief period, and then they die. Then
again, matters which in q free country
are settled by the public, and hence need
to be publicly discussed, are here settled
quietly by handful of officials without
any public discussion at all. The Indian
government is bureaucratic despotism,
tempered by the influence of public opin.
ION IN England, but caring next to noth-
ing for public opinion in India. This is
discouraging to a journalist of first-class
ability who wishes to accomplish some-
thing IN his generation, and tends to
make the number of such who come to or
remain In India very small. Further
more, the Engiish-reading public of India
is by nc means large; hence q really
good journal, to pay at all with SO limited
a subscription list, has to be high priced.
To illustrate this, it may be mentioned
that the Pioneer, the leading daily paper
of India, published at Allahabad, and
sending out about 5000 copies a day,
charges s24 year in advance, and S33 in
arrears. Inc Friend of India, secular
weekly, published at Calcutta. charges $l1
a year, and one of the religious weeklies
In the same city costs 50 per annum. No
other paper in the country has anything
like the circulation of the Pioneer There
or four of the chief dailies in the presi-
dency towns have between 1900 and 1000
subscribers, but the rest have to be satis-
fed with considerably less than a thou
sand, and some have small pickings IN
deed. As rule, the support is very pre-
carious, and the papers short-lived. They
spring suddenly into existence, and strug-
gle for while prosperousIy or otherwise.
according to the ability or the money of
the one man on whose shoulders they
usually rest. When he gets tired of his
burden or his whim, or for any cause de-
parts, the papers disappear as quickly as
they rose.