The Hindu: How a mainstream newspaper is changing community journalism
In a country so largely populated, news spreads fast. So how do you cater to every single person but still get the news across? Seems difficult, but it definitely isn’t impossible. The Hindu, one of India’s oldest newspapers, aims to solve that problem.
Created in 1878 as a weekly, later converting to a daily in 1889, The Hindu is regarded as one of the most influential newspapers in the country. While the country was under British rule, this newspaper spoke in favor of independence, building a sense of national pride in Indians. After India gained independence in 1947, nearly 60 years later, The Hindu built a vast network of foreign bureaus and began to expand its coverage of India. The English newspaper is published in Chennai, but after expanding their readership nationwide, they also publish in 16 other cities nationally. The circulation has reached around 15 million copies and is continuing to grow. This newspaper is owned by Kasturi & Sons Ltd, most famously known for The Hindu Group of Publications in India. This company has around 7 publications under its wing, with The Hindu being the undisputed No. 1 publication in South India.
The Hindu has an extensive network of correspondents, making sure all their news is reliable as well as relevant. Since they do focus on political stories quite often, The Hindu is known to be a non partisan newspaper, always offering balanced views and opinions. There are about 11 other versions of the main newspaper, including a Tamil, sports, business and children’s versions.
Since the publication is so large, a weekly supplement was added in the last couple years called Downtown. This section of the newspaper is published every Sunday and contains stories specifically about the localities of Chennai.
Many of the small, neighborhood newspapers are filled with lots of ads. Hard news is rarely found in those papers and if there is some sort of important story, it’s usually about local construction that might affect a specific street, for example.
“Most of the neighborhood newspapers here are just like craigslist in America. They have lots of ads in order to make money and only two or three stories about the neighborhood itself. Some newspapers are becoming more popular and have a larger audience, but as far as news goes, The Hindu is so well regarded for a reason,” says Sundaram Santhanam, an avid newspaper reader in Chennai.
According to Praveena Nagaraj, a retired, Indian journalist, the concept of local newspapers isn’t very common. She said they might be slowly getting better, but for the most part, readers go to larger publications like The Hindu for all their news.
“Politics are very important here and everyone wants to keep up with what is happening in the government. Local newspapers don’t report on those things, so they aren’t as reliable or popular. There is a reason the larger media is doing so well, it is because they give good, reliable news for the audience,” says Nagaraj.
India ranks 136 on the World Press Freedom Index. Being a developing nation, corruption is still very common and affects the way journalists work. In Tamil Nadu, home of The Hindu, most businesses are owned by the chief ministers (the governor of the state). The two main political parties in Tamil Nadu, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), have been constantly switching back and forth in their quest for power. Some of these elections are rigged, with money being distributed under the table, propaganda being spread and claims being made for the political parties’ own benefit. Journalists in India have the difficult job of staying unbiased and reporting everything fairly. However, there are some news publications that are owned by the respective candidates and they usually write in favor of their own benefactor.
“Being a journalist in Tamil Nadu wasn’t too bad, but now that the chief minister [Jayalalitha] has passed, there is chaos. The DMK is trying to gain control and that is making everyone wonder ‘what will happen?’ These two parties own many of the big companies in Tamil Nadu, so as soon as chaos occurs in the government, it will also ensue within society,” says Nagaraj.
The Hindu, being an independent newspaper, tries very hard to report as objectively as possible. However, they don’t only focus on politics. Downtown, the weekly newspaper supplement, covers stories that are specific to the localities in Chennai. The capital city of Tamil Nadu is relatively large and densely populated, so this news supplement tries to bring together those many neighborhoods, people and stories into one place. The supplement is run by journalist Prince Frederick. He is a journalist of over 20 years, working at multiple publications in India and is now running Downtown. The stories range from human interest to event coverage and different issues happening in the local community. Since The Hindu is such a large publication, this weekly supplement is the easiest way to have a community newspaper from a reputable source and get the best of both worlds, small and large newspapers residing side by side.
One story was about a young boy aspiring to be a farmer. He started finding scientific ways to improve his crops and grow the best vegetables. Another story was about the government helping remove some invasive trees from a local park. The trees were taking over the wildlife and they needed to be removed.
“It’s very nice reading about other people in this city that you might never meet. Chennai is a big place and there is no way you can meet and talk to every person here. There are issues within Chennai that need to be addressed and these people and issues are irrelevant to other cities. Nobody in Madurai really cares about the local Chennai kids or the construction here and vice versa. This supplement is a good way to keep the city informed,” says Santhanam.
Community newspapers still have a long way to go in India, but newspapers like The Hindu are trying their best to incorporate the local community in the news and better serve them.
“It’s a lot different than when I was a journalist,” says Praveena Nagaraj. “New neighborhood papers are being started and they are trying to do more reporting. But, India is different than America, there would have to be a drastic change for neighborhood papers to become popular.”
