By Zeba Siddiqui
Topics
1) The Fourth Estate
2) Introduction to Regional Indian Newspapers
3) English Newspapers • Free Press Journal • Indian Express
4) Marathi Newspapers • Saamna • Lokmat
5) Urdu Newspapers • Inquilab • Urdu Times
6) Gujarati & Hindi Newspapers • Divya Bhaskar • Navbharat
7) Significant Schisms & Analysis
The Fourth Estate
“In May 1789, Louis XVI summoned to Versailles a full meeting of the 'Estates General'. The First Estate consisted of three hundred clergy. The Second Estate, three hundred nobles. The Third Estate, six hundred commoners. Some years later, after the French Revolution, Edmund Burke, looking up at the Press Gallery of the House of Commons, said, 'Yonder sits the Fourth Estate, and they are more important than them all.’” --Jeffery Archer (The Fourth Estate)
Centuries later, today, Burke’s words about the power of the ‘Fourth Estate’ seem more accurate than ever. The power of the press, which he so highly glorified, continues to grow all over the world, so why should India be any different? Today, in India, the press indeed forms the fourth and the most important pillar—the pillar supporting democracy and public opinion, as well as helping to bring about the social, political and economic development of the country.
‘The Bengal Gazette’ was the first newspaper to come out in India, brought out in Calcutta by ‘The Father of the Indian Press’--Sir James Augustus Hickey back in 1780 A.D. This was the first in a country which was to later become the largest producer of newspapers in the world. Since the Gazette, thousands of newspapers have been brought out in regions across the country. The history of our freedom struggle itself reveals great conquests led by many a freedom fighters with their effective use of the