Lesson - 1

P20411 இதழியல் - ஓர் அறிமுகம்

Journalism - An Introduction

    This lesson discusses the growth and history of journalism over the years. A detailed study and analysis of journalism has been done in this lesson. Webster defines journalism as “Any news written to be published, broadcasted and printed is journalism”.

    The interest to know “what happened” forms the basis for journalism or any news for that matter. There are references to news being announced in early Tamil culture. The announcer was known as “வள்ளுவன்” and “ஓலைநாயகம்”. During the reign of Julius Caesar, news conveyed to Generals on the battlefield was known as “ஆக்டா டயர்னா”.

    The Chinese were the first to make use of paper. Early Chinese made paper from the bark of the mulberry tree. Other countries later borrowed this technology from the Chinese. The first journal “The Peking News” appeared in China during the 6th century AD. The journal celebrated 1200 years of its existence in 1836. This is perhaps the world’s oldest journal.

    The world’s first printing press was invented by the German John Gutenberg in 1450. The first journal to appear from a printing press was “உறவு” (Relation) in the year 1609.

    The first publication of a journal in England was in 1622 and it was called “The Weekly News”. This was a monthly magazine. The first daily newspaper published in England was “The Daily Courant” in the year 1708.

    The first printed publication in Tamil was “தம்பிரான் வணக்கம்” in the year 1577. The first of the Indian newspapers were “The Bengal Gazette”, “India Gazette”, “Bengal Journal” and “Madras Courier”. The first Tamil magazine “அரசாங்க வர்த்தமணி” was published in the year 1802.

    From this lesson we can learn the history of journals. Information regarding the introduction and publication of the first journal and the subsequent growth are given. The lesson also discusses the emergence of newspapers and how news was shared in the olden days. The arrival of the printing press and the development of journalism have also been discussed.