Newspapers: My First Love

Pradeep Biswal 

Ever since my childhood I got addicted to newspapers. In those days in the sixties and seventies newspapers used to arrive by post and reach the next day in our village. Still then people lost no interest in reading it from one end to another. Samaja, Prajatantra and Matrubhumi were leading newspapers in Odia language then.

When I went to the High School in the nearby town I got acquainted with reading these newspapers in the tea stalls opposite the school during recess instead of spending time with the classmates. I was introduced to Statesman when I stepped into college and initially made it a point to read it in the newspaper stall in the town on my way to the college. I befriended the owner of the stall and he was liberally allowing me to go through the newspapers and periodicals displayed in his stall.

At times I used to purchase weekly magazines like Illustrated Weekly, Sunday, Blitz etc and monthly journals like Mirror, Wisdom in English and Jhankar, Nabarabi, Asantakali and so on in Odia with the pocket money received from my mother. She always encouraged me in this regard since she herself was a voracious reader.

By the time I reached the University for my post graduation I was an avid reader and a budding writer. My poems were being published in the weekly literary supplements of the newspapers like Dharitri, Pragativadi etc and some of the established literary journals also.

Few newspapers both Odia and English were available in the common room of the hostel and the inmates arrived in the morning to have a glance at these newspapers. I was no exception. At the same time I subscribed for The Statesman and the hawker supplied it in my room each morning. For more than two decades I subscribed to The Statesman and its annual issue had an added flavor and was like a bonus.

When The New Indian Express started publishing an edition from Bhubaneswar I switched over to it and finally discontinued my long association with The Statesman. Subsequently, when Times of India brought out a local edition from Bhubaneswar I preferred to subscribe to it. Simultaneously, my love for Odia newspapers has never diminished. Every morning I go through two Odia newspapers with Times of India while sipping a customary cup of tea. At the office one Odia newspaper and Economic Times wait for me.

In the eighties there was a revolution in the newspaper industry in Odisha with the advent of Sambad thanks to its editor Soumyaranjan Patnaik. When it hit the stand the slogan was: The age of stale news is over. In fact till then many of the Odia newspapers took the readers for granted. There were holidays like government offices, the journalists were being paid very less and many of them were not professionally trained.

The get up and contents were less inspiring. Before that Dharitri had made some strides in innovation and was able to attract the young readers. The weekly supplement Dharitri Saptahiki  was very popular among the young writers  thanks to its editor Bhagaban Nayak Burma who was a mentor for the budding writers. Sambad swept the market within a few years with its new look and novel approach. It introduced for the first time multiple editions from different locations giving better coverage to local news.

Surendra Mohanty, the veteran writer, joined as its first editor. Many young professionals joined Sambad with a handsome salary. Most of them are now leading journalists of the State and have created a niche for themselves not only in Odia newspapers but also in English newspapers published from Odisha. I had also got an offer in the initial period to join Sambad but by then I had joined All India Radio and therefore I politely declined.

Later, when Soumya Babu was planning to join active politics and was searching for a successor, he induced me again in 1988 to resign from my job in the State Government and join as the editor. This time again it was a very difficult choice for me and I opted out. Of course he got a more brilliant person than me to head Sambad. Being a regular contributor to Sambad it is still close to my heart.

At one point of time, I had a close association with Prajatantra as a regular contributor and my association with Dr Harekrushna Mahatab was one of its reasons. I was being taken regularly as a member of the reception committee of the Bisuva Milan by Dr Mahatab when I was working in All India Radio in the mid eighties.

After his demise Prajatantra lost its popular appeal and my association with their organization also abruptly ended. In the recent years Prameya has also emerged as a front runner in the field of Odia journalism. Many daily newspapers are being published from Bhubaneswar and other places nowadays.

Some of the leading newspapers have multiple editions from various locations even from outside the State. Readers have now a wider choice in a competitive environment. However, newspapers published from different parts of the state other than the State capital are somehow not in a position to compete and do well, possibly due to lack of patronage. Admittedly, Odia journalism has marched ahead quite a lot.

(Mr. Pradeep Biswal is a bilingual poet writing both in Odia and English. His poems are widely anthologized. He is also an editor and translator of repute. A retired IAS Officer, Mr. Biswal presently holds the position of Member, Odisha Real Estate Regulatory Authority and stays with his family at Bhubaneswar. Views are Personal)

Tags: #Odianewspapers #Odiajournalism #Prajatantra #dailynewspapers #Journalism #Newspaperstory #Odishaleadingnewspapers