Evolution of the media

The essentials

Mass media in India grew in stages: print in the late eighteenth century, radio in the 1920s and 1930s, television from 1959 and the Internet-based new media from the 1990s. Each new medium reached more people and changed how news and entertainment were shared.

Key points

• Hicky's Bengal Gazette (1780), started by James Augustus Hicky in Calcutta, is regarded as India's first newspaper.
• Indian-language and nationalist newspapers grew in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and played a big role in the freedom movement.
• Radio: the Radio Club of Bombay began broadcasts in 1923; the Indian Broadcasting Company started in 1927; the government service was renamed All India Radio in 1936 and later also called Akashvani.
• Television: began in Delhi on 15 September 1959 as an experimental service; Doordarshan became separate from All India Radio in 1976; colour television arrived in 1982 around the Asian Games in Delhi.
• Prasar Bharati (1997) is the autonomous public broadcaster that runs Doordarshan and All India Radio.
• From the 1990s, private satellite channels, FM radio and the Internet expanded choice for audiences.
• New media (websites, blogs, social media, mobile apps) are digital, interactive and allow audiences to create content.

Exam tips

Prepare a simple timeline: 1780 print, 1923/1927 radio, 1936 AIR, 1959 TV, 1976 Doordarshan separate, 1982 colour TV, 1997 Prasar Bharati. Chronology questions are common.

Common mistakes

Do not confuse All India Radio (radio) with Doordarshan (television); both are now under Prasar Bharati.