During the colonial period, the British are credited with introducing independent press or participatory journalism in India. However, the British administration made a greater effort to restrain the Indian press in order to limit the nationalistic sentiments spread through it. The development of the Indian press was fraught with developmental challenges, illiteracy, colonial constraints, and repression. It spread freedom ideas and became a prominent tool in the freedom struggle.

Background

• James Augustus Hickey founded “The Bengal Gazette or Calcutta General Advertiser” in 1780, but it was seized in 1872 due to its outspoken criticism of the government.
• It was Hickey’s efforts that laid the groundwork for the Indian press.
• Later on, more newspapers/journals appeared, including The Bengal Journal, Calcutta Chronicle, Madras Courier, and Bombay Herald.
• The officers of the Company were concerned that these newspapers would reach London and expose their wrongdoings.
• As a result, they saw the need for press restraints.

Early Regulations

Censorship of Press Act, 1799

• The Censorship of Press Act, 1799, was enacted by Governor-General Richard Wellesley to prevent the French from publishing anything critical of the British.
• This act subjected all newspapers to government scrutiny prior to publication. This act was later expanded in 1807 to include all types of press publications, including newspapers, magazines, books, and pamphlets.
• When Francis Hastings (1813-1823) took office in 1818, the rules were relaxed.

Licensing Regulations, 1823

In 1823, Licensing Regulation Ordinance was brought out by acting Governor-General John Adams. This regulation made operating a press without a license a punishable offense. The restriction was primarily aimed at Indian-language newspapers or those edited by Indians. This prompted Raja Ram Mohan Roy to discontinue his Persian journal ‘Mirat-ul-akhbar,’ which he founded in 1822. 

Background

• Adam’s seven-month administration was marked by great energy, but it is remembered only for his illiberal actions against the press and his vindictive persecution of Mr. Buckingham, who had come out to Calcutta in 1818 and founded the Calcutta Journal.
• It was the most capable newspaper that had ever appeared in India, and it gave journalism a higher tone and a deeper interest.
• Using the freedom granted to the press by Lord Hastings, the editor commented on public measures with great boldness, and sometimes with a degree of severity that was considered dangerous.
• But the great offense of the journal consisted in the freedom of its remark on some of the leading members of Government.
• They had been nursed in the lap of despotism and their feelings of official complacency were rudely disturbed by the sarcasms inflicted on them.
• A regulation was accordingly passed in April 1823 which completely extinguished the ‘freedom of unlicensed printing’ but the Calcutta Journal continued to write with the same spirit as before.
• A petition to disallow the press regulation was presented to the Privy Council and rejected without any hesitation.

Impact

• Every publisher was required by the government to obtain a license.
• In the event of a default, the penalty was Rs 400, and the government would shut down the press.
• The government also had the authority to revoke the license.
• As a result of this restriction, Raja Ram Mohan Roy’s newspaper “Mirat Ul Akbar” had to cease publication.