All over the country in India, on benches at parks, at bus-stands and railway platforms, on apartment balconies, at breakfast stalls and teashops, the morning daily is dissected for the day’s breaking news. Different sections of the newspaper being read by different individuals by turn make the newspaper India’s indigenous social network.
It was the year 1780 which saw the dawn of the Indian print media when Hickey's Bengal Gazette or the Calcutta General Advertiser was founded by a highly eccentric Irishman, James Augustus Hickey. More than two centuries later, English newspapers in India today occupy a secondary position in the Indian newspaper industry, with the top five English newspapers clocking an estimated readership of only 15.47 million* as compared to a readership of 67.42 million* enjoyed by the top five newspapers published in the Indian languages.
With a low literacy rate of 74%# in India overall, and 69%# in rural India, and knowledge of the English language even lower, the majority of the population prefer a newspaper in his/her mother tongue. As such, the penetration of English newspapers suffers from a structural ceiling. Moreover, English newspapers are mostly published at centralized locations like state capitals while an Indian language newspaper like Malayala Manorama has 10 editions in Kerala alone, and offers highly localized news to its readers.
Despite commanding a relatively small share of the print media market, English newspapers have grown steadily in circulation and number. The steady rise in literacy and a growing sense of awareness among Indians about current local, national and international events are some of the main reasons contributing to this phenomenon. According to the Indian Readership Survey for the first quarter (Q1) of 2011, the top five English newspapers based on readership (different from circulation) are:
The Times of India - 7.442 million readers
Hindustan Times - 3.692 million readers
The Hindu - 2.095 million readers
The Telegraph - 1.203 million readers
Deccan Chronicle - 1.035 million readers
1. The Times of India
Founded in 1838 in what was then Bombay as The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce, The Times of India is the largest circulated English-language newspaper in the world. It is presently owned and managed by Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. which is controlled by the Sahu Jain family. The Times has the most pan-India presence among all English newspapers in the country, with ten different editions printed in as many as 32 different cities. Its readership is estimated to be 7.4 million and rising. Currently edited by Jaideep Bose, its contributors include Jug Suraiya, Swaminathan Aiyar, RK Laxman, Rukmini Subramaniam, Shobha De, MJ Akbar, and Gurcharan Das.
Web: www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com
2. Hindustan Times Hindustan Times was founded in 1924 as a nationalistic newspaper and inaugurated by Mahatma Gandhi himself. Presently, the newspaper is owned by HT Media Ltd, which is controlled by the KK Birla family. The IRS Q1 2011 ranks Hindustan Times as the second most widely read English newspaper in India with eight different editions across north India and a readership of 3.7 million. It is currently edited by Sanjoy Narayan and its columnists include Vir Sanghvi, Karan Thapar, Khushwant Singh and Barkha Dutt.
Web: www.hindustantimes.com
3. The Hindu The Hindu is the national newspaper of India. Printed from Chennai since 1878, it now has 10 editions printed from 14 different locations, mostly in South India. Its large base of circulation in South India contributes the bulk of its 2 million readers, making it the third most read English language newspaper in India. The Hindu is owned by Kasturi & Sons Ltd. and is the flagship publication of The Hindu Group. It has been edited by N. Ram since 2003.
Web: www.thehindu.com
4. The Telegraph The Telegraph is a newspaper based in Eastern India, and widely circulated in West Bengal, Jharkhand and North East India. It was founded in 1982 and is owned by the ABP Group. It is the fourth most read newspaper in India with a readership of 1.2 million. Edited by Aveek Sarkar, The Telegraph is lauded for its innovative use of run-of-press color in the 2000s; its extensive reporting of the insurgency-ridden North East and its list of columnists that include Githa Hariharan, Swapan Dasgupta, Ramachandra Guha, K.P Nayar, Rudrangshu Mukherjee and Khushwant Singh. The newspaper comes with a series of different supplements that differ based on region.
Web: www.telegraphindia.com
5. Deccan Chronicle Deccan Chronicle is the fifth most read newspaper in India with a readership of 1 million. It is owned by Deccan Chronicle Holdings Ltd and published from seven cities of Andhra Pradesh and one each of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. In print since 1938, Deccan Chronicle competes with The Hindu to be the leading English newspaper in South India. It is presently edited by V. Shankar and its columnists include Arun Nehru, Sunanda K. Datta Ray, Ayaz Memon, Shashi and Khalid Mohamed.
Web: www.deccanchronicle.com
* Indian Readership Survey 2011, Q1 published by Media Research Users Council and Hansa Research
# Provisional Census 2011 figures
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