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A brief history

The state of Tamil Nadu has a vibrant media culture whose origins can be traced back to the late 19th century. The Sudesamitran (Swadesamitran) was the first Tamil-language newspaper owned and operated by Indians. Setup by G Subramania Iyer in 1882, who had also founded The Hindu a few years earlier. The paper was in circulation till 1985.

“The British had set up many Tamil newspapers earlier, such as Jana Vinothini. They were more about curiosities and were essentially translations of news articles from English to Tamil,” says Professor V Arasu, former head of the Department of Tamil Literature, University of Madras and is a keen observer of media culture in Tamil Nadu. He adds, “The Sudesamitran was the first of a series of anti-British, pro-independence journals that started coming out in Tamil Nadu, especially Chennai. The famines in Bengal and other parts of India around this time were also a catalyst for strong, pro-independent sentiments and triggered Indian journalism. A Tamil newspaper called the Desa Bhaktan (Patriot) was set up towards the end of the twentieth century. Va ve su Iyer, Subramaniya Bharati and other doyens of India’s freedom struggle in Tamil Nadu were running this newspaper then.”

The newspaper has and continues to be a strong political and ideological instrument in Tamil Nadu. In 1925, Periyar EV Ramasamy setup the Kudiyarasu (Republic) to espouse the ideals of the Dravidian Movement. While the newspaper was primarily a propaganda tool, it was in the 30s that it became a business in Tamil Nadu.

Dina Mani, the Tamil newspaper of the Bombay-based Indian Express group, was the first newspaper to be set up as a purely profit-based venture. It continues to hold a reasonable part of the Tamil newspaper market today.

Dina Thanthi entered the scene in the 40s and soon became the most successful newspaper commercially for various reasons, which are explained in other chapters. The primary reason was the accessibility that this newspaper provided, taking the news reading culture, which was the intellectual domain so far, to the masses. The newspaper Dina Malar, founded in the 60s, followed Thanthi’s example and built on it. Dinakaran is another major player in the Tamil newspaper scenario. It was established by Thanthi founder CP Athithanar’s son-in-law, KP Kandasamy, in 1977.

In terms of circulation, Thanthi, Malar and Dinakaran control the majority of the market. Between them, they boast of a combined circulation of nearly 1.5 crores, with Thanthi making up for about 70 lakh readers by itself.

Newspapers ideologies

As it stands now, the major newspapers and magazines in Tamil Nadu are the following. Dina Thanthi, Dinakaran, Dina Malar, Dina Mani, The Hindu (Tamil) and Malai Malar are the major Tamil dailies. The Vikatan group and the Kumudham group are the major magazine groups and publish a range of weeklies and monthlies.

In terms of their ideologies, most of the major newspapers are either ideologically, pro-establishment, or party-centric. In contrast, Thanthi and Malar are primarily considered to be pro-establishment. Having owners belonging to Nadar and Brahmin castes, respectively, they also are perceived to be favourable to these particular caste-groups in their news coverage. Thanthi has the perception of being pro-Dravidian parties, while Dina Malar is considered to be among the most favourable among the Tamil dailies to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Dinakaran, belonging to the Sun Networks Group, is brazenly supportive of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), and all of its news and editorial coverage reflects this.

TV and other media

“Tamil Nadu has long been captivated by the visual culture. A case-in-point is our politicians. I don’t think anywhere else, so many actors have become rulers,” says Professor V Arasu. The visual medium has long harboured a seemingly direct-connection to who is and is not in power in Tamil Nadu. This has continued with the advent of TV news journalism as well. While the Sun TV network, founded in 1993, is among the oldest TV news outlets in Tamil Nadu, there is an array of TV news channels now, many of which have come up in the last decade or lesser.

As of now, there are more than a dozen Tamil news channels, many of whom are owned by one political outfit or another. The express purpose of these politically-owned news channels to serve as a propaganda tool for whichever party owns it. The Tamil TV news channels that are on-air today include but are not limited to Sun News (DMK-affiliated), Jaya News (AIADMK[Amma]-affiliated), Velichham TV (VCK- affiliated), Makkal TV (PMK-affiliated), Captain TV (DMDK-affiliated), Malai Murasu News Channel, Thanthi TV, Mega TV (Congress- affiliated), News 7, News 18 Tamil Nadu, Polimer News, Puthiya Thalaimurai and Raj News.

Channels such as News 7 and Puthiya Thalaimurai are owned by private corporations with business interests in various fields, including but not limited to the Education sector, mining and private healthcare. Their ideological and political leanings are not expressly stated, but negative news related to their parent company’s other interests are often unreported.

A case in point is News 7, which covers many developments in the state critically but has failed to report on the illegal sand mining industry in the state. The proprietor of the channel also happens to be the largest sand miner in the state. Pan-Indian news networks such as Zee and News 18 have also made forays into Tamil recently.

In terms of other media, traditional news and magazine groups have made forays into the digital medium. There are also a few digital-only news outlets, such as Ippodhu.com, which have loyal fan-following. While the ever-increasing access to the internet has affected news distribution, it is still to yield websites such as Scroll with a large-scale dedicated fan-following in Tamil. As in the rest of the country and the world, social media too has made significant dents into newsgathering and consumption in Tamil Nadu.

Overall, the key drivers in Tamil Nadu in terms of media production is political propaganda and commercial interests. Sometimes, it is also a volatile mix of both of these factors.

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Sibi Arasu is an independent journalist based in Bangalore. He writes primarily on environmental issues and climate change. He has worked as a journalist for more than a decade and has written for several leading Indian and international publications, including the BBC, Hakai Magazine, Caravan magazine, The Hindu, The Times of India, and the Hindustan Times among others.