ABSTRACT

Bengal occupies a special position in the history of Indian journalism as the journey of the first English newspaper and, after that, the first vernacular newspaper, started from here. The country had the tradition of writing newsletters, but newspapers were a European import. Unlike other means of communication, newspapers were free from direct government control and they flourished mostly as private endeavours. This apparent independence was often undermined by the indirect influence exerted by the state which was run by a mercantile company in the first half of the nineteenth century. The present paper probes to seek the reasons behind the late arrival of newspapers in Bengal/India, then their negotiations with the state power and finally their reincarnation in the hands of the socio-religious reformers of the Bengali bhadralok section. The Bengali press burgeoned under the patronage of this group, which can be closely linked with the bhadralok’s intent of appropriating and communicating knowledge. To fulfil this aim, they also established different Sabhas or associations and brought out newspapers as the mouthpiece of those organisations. These Sabhas and the newspapers associated with them worked together in establishing the locations of knowledge production and its dissemination; thus, influencing public debates in the first half of the nineteenth century.

摘要

孟加拉在印度新闻史上占有特殊的地位，第一份英文报纸以及随后的第一份白话报纸的旅程都是从这里开始的。该国有撰写时事通讯的传统，但报纸是从欧洲进口的。与其他通讯方式不同，报纸不受政府的直接控制，它们的繁荣主要是通过私人努力。这种表面上的独立性常常被 19 世纪上半叶由商业公司运营的国家所施加的间接影响所破坏。本文探讨了报纸在孟加拉/印度迟到的原因，然后是它们与国家权力的谈判，最后是它们在孟加拉社会宗教改革者手中的转世。巴德拉洛克部分。孟加拉媒体在该团体的赞助下蓬勃发展，这与bhadralok 挪用和传播知识的意图密切相关。为了实现这一目标，他们还建立了不同的议会或协会，并推出报纸作为这些组织的喉舌。这些议会和与其相关的报纸共同努力建立知识生产和传播的地点；因此，影响了十九世纪上半叶的公众辩论。