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The Hindu is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889.[3] It is one of the Indian newspapers of record[4][5] and the second most circulated English-language newspaper in India, after The Times of India. As of March 2018[update], The Hindu is published from 21 locations across 11 states of India.[6]
The Hindu has been a family-owned newspaper since 1905, when it was purchased by S. Kasturi Ranga Iyengar from the original founders. It is now jointly owned by Iyengar's descendants, referred to as the "Kasturi family", who serve as the directors of the holding company.
Except for a period of around two years, when S. Varadarajan held the editorship of the newspaper, senior editorial positions of the paper have always been held by members of the original Iyengar family or by those appointed by them under their direction.[7] In June 2023, the former chairperson of the group, Malini Parthasarathy, who is a great-granddaughter of Iyengar,[8][9] announced the end of her term as chairperson of the group, citing "ideological differences" and the "scope for her efforts in freeing the newspaper from editorial biases to have narrowed".[10]
The Hindu was founded in Madras on 20 September 1878 as a weekly newspaper, by what was known then as the Triplicane Six, which consisted of four law students and two teachers, i.e., T. T. Rangacharya, P. V. Rangacharya, D. Kesava Rao Pantulu and N. Subba Rao Pantulu, led by G. Subramania Iyer (a school teacher from Tanjore district) and M. Veeraraghavacharyar, a lecturer at Pachaiyappa's College.[11] Started in order to support the campaign of Sir T. Muthuswamy Iyer for a judgeship at the Madras High Court and to counter the campaign against him carried out by the Anglo-Indian press, The Hindu was one of the newspapers of the period established to protest the policies of the British Raj. About 100 copies of the inaugural issue were printed at Srinidhi Press, Georgetown, on one rupee and twelve annas of borrowed money. Subramania Iyer became the first editor and Veera Raghavacharya, the first managing director of the newspaper.[citation needed]
The paper was initially printed from Srinidhi Press but later moved to Scottish Press, then to The Hindu Press, Mylapore. Started as a weekly newspaper, the paper became a tri-weekly in 1883 and an evening daily in 1889. A single copy of the newspaper was priced at four annas. The offices moved to rented premises at 100 Mount Road on 3 December 1883. The newspaper started printing at its own press there, named "The National Press," which was established on borrowed capital as public subscriptions were not forthcoming. The building itself became The Hindu's in 1892, after the Maharaja of Vizianagaram, Pusapati Ananda Gajapati Raju, gave The National Press a loan both for the building and to carry out needed expansion.[citation needed]
Joint managing director N. Murali said in July 2003, "It is true that our readers have been complaining that some of our reports are partial and lack objectivity. But it also depends on reader beliefs."[15] N. Ram was appointed on 27 June 2003 as its editor-in-chief with a mandate to "improve the structures and other mechanisms to uphold and strengthen quality and objectivity in news reports and opinion pieces", authorised to "restructure the editorial framework and functions in line with the competitive environment".[16] On 3 and 23 September 2003, the reader's letters column carried responses from readers saying the editorial was biased.[17][18] An editorial in August 2003 observed that the newspaper was affected by the 'editorialising as news reporting' virus, and expressed a determination to buck the trend, restore the professionally sound lines of demarcation, and strengthen objectivity and factuality in its coverage.[19]
In 2010, The Indian Express reported a dispute within the publisher of The Hindu regarding the retirement age of the person working as the editor-in-chief, a post which was then being served by N. Ram. Following this report, Ram decided to sue The Indian Express for defamation, a charge which the Indian Express denied. N. Ravi and Parthasarathy voiced concern about Ram's decision, saying that doing so goes against The Hindu's values and that journalists should not fear "scrutiny", respectively.[24] During subsequent events, Parthasarathy tweeted that "issues relating to management of newspaper have come to the surface, including editorial direction" in her response to a question. Later, Parthasarathy called N. Ram and other The Hindu employees "Stalinists", alleging that they were trying to oust her from the newspaper.[25][22]
During the 2015 South Indian floods, for the first time since its founding in 1878, the newspaper did not publish a print edition in Chennai market on 2 December, as workers were unable to reach the press building.[30]
On 5 January 2016, Parthasarathy resigned with immediate effect. It was reported by the media that she resigned her post, Malini found herself involved in several disputes with the editorial team. In a recent incident, she engaged in a discussion with RSS ideologue S Gurumurthy regarding The Hindu's fact-checking of the 'sengol' controversy. The newspaper had contradicted the Union government's claim that the 'sengol' was presented to then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru by Lord Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of India. Gurumurthy contested the findings of the fact-checking article.[31][32] However, she continues to be a Wholetime Director of Kasturi & Sons Ltd.[33] In July 2020, she became the chairperson of the group. On 5 June 2023, she stepped down, upon completion of her non-extendable three-year term as chairperson, and Nirmala Lakshman was unanimously appointed as chairperson of the group.[9][34]
On 15 August 2009, the 130-year-old newspaper launched the beta version of its redesigned website at beta.thehindu.com. This was the first redesign of its website since its launch. On 24 June 2010 the beta version of the website went fully live at www.thehindu.co.in.[41]
An internal source said the board was concerned about her general attitude, which had prompted several editors to leave the newspaper. This included Rahul Pandita, opinions and special stories editor; P Sainath, senior editor; and Praveen Swami, a national security expert. In his resignation letter, Pandita blamed Parthasarathy for her arbitrary decision-making, adding that he was tired of changing goalposts.
The ownership structure doesn't look as complex as many other unlisted media companies in India. The newspaper is published by THG Publishing, of which half (52.04 percent) is owned by Kasturi & Sons Limited (KSL), the holding company. The remaining 47.96 percent is split among four dozen shareholders from the extended family. Similarly, the ownership of the parent company, KSL, is split among these families with each one holding nearly equal stake in a 22-26 percent range, making it wholly owned by them.
THG Publishing came into existence in September 2017, after the group went for a demerger of the publishing business of KSL into a separate entity. All newspapers, magazines, and digital news media publications were made a part of THG Publishing, while all other businesses, especially the real estate, went to KSL. It owned real estate in prime localities in cities across the country.
In an interview on July 29, 2020, Ram said the Hindu faced a big hit on advertising after it published a series of investigative reports on the Rafale deal. (He himself broke several investigative stories.) He said the previous Congress government was also not kind to them when the newspaper published a series of articles on the Bofors scandal many years ago.
What's worse for the Hindu is that the newspaper that commanded the respect of its employees for decades has seen it steadily erode. The legal notice sent by the Mumbai staff demanding fair severance in line with wage board provisions is a classic example.
Extra Tip: Beginners may keep the UPSC mains syllabus in front of them while reading the newspaper. This would help you concentrate on areas of importance (e.g.: NGOs, Self-Help Groups, etc. as they are mentioned in the UPSC CSE syllabus)
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