The Free Press Journal

History

The founder editor was Swaminathan Sadanand. It was founded in 1928 to support Free Press of India, a news agency that dispatched "nationalist" news to its subscribers. In the colonial context, Colaco describes it as "an independent newspaper supporting nationalist causes". She quotes Lakshmi as saying that "The nationalist press marched along with the freedom fighters". It played a significant role in mobilising sympathetic public opinion during the independence movement.

Notable former employees

Among its founders was Stalin Srinivasan who founded Manikkodi in 1932. Bal Thackeray worked as a cartoonist for the newspaper until being removed from the job. Thackeray then founded Marmik. According to Stephen E. Atkins he was removed "after a political dispute over Thackeray's attacks on southern Indian immigration into Bombay" Notable cartoonist R. K. Laxman joined The Free Press Journal as a twenty-year-old. He was Thackeray's colleague. Three years into the job, he was asked by his proprietor not to make fun at communists, Laxman left and joined The Times of India.

Support to Jewish refugee medical doctors

It supported the practice rights of Jewish doctors who had taken refuge in Mumbai fleeing persecution in Germany, in the 1930s. Indian doctors opposed their right to practice claiming that Germany did not have reciprocal arrangements for Indian doctors. The Free Press Journal argued that this was against the "ancient Indian traditions of affording shelter from persecution".

Columnists

• Seema Mustafa: Seema Mustafa is a Resident Editor for The Sunday Guardian. She writes a column "Frankly Speaking Seema Mustafa".
• Janardan Thakur: veteran political columnist was editor of the newspaper in the late 1990s.

References

References

1. "Website showing 1928 written beneath "The Free Press Journal"". Free Press Journal.
2. (2011). "India Today: An Encyclopedia of Life in the Republic". ABC-CLIO.
3. Asha Kasbekar. (2006). "Pop culture India!: media, arts, and lifestyle". ABC-CLIO.
4. (2006). "What is the news o Narada? Newspeople in a new India".
5. Centre for Studies in Civilizations (Delhi, India). (2010). "Social sciences: communication, anthropology and sociology". Longman.
6. Ravinder Kaur. (2005). "Religion, violence, and political mobilisation in South Asia". SAGE.
7. Stephen E. Atkins. (2004). "Encyclopedia of modern worldwide extremists and extremist groups". Greenwood Publishing Group.
8. Rukun Advani. (1997). "Civil lines: new writing from India". Orient Blackswan.
9. Joan G. Roland. (1998). "The Jewish communities of India: identity in a colonial era". Transaction Publishers.
10. Roy, Biswajit. (31 December 2002). "Shri Mahajan Condoles The Death Of Shri Janardhan Thakur".
11. (13 July 1999). "Remembering Janardan Thakur".
12. [http://freepressjournal.in/about-us/ Details about ''The Free Press Journal'']