The Hindu Front Page & Gandhi’s Assassination
What does this have to do. We will all automatically assume that if Gandhiji was assassinated then The Hindu would cover it. And yes in the Front Page. They actually did it. But it was the first time they carried news in the Front Page after a long time. Till then The Hindu apparently had only ads in the front page. Hard to believe. I first said it was impossible. Never. Chance illa. Nahi Hoga. Had they said Times of India, I would have said yes. Until someone confirmed and I actually saw a copy printed on a book on 350 years of Madras by Navin J & Praveen. Ads of Gemini Ganesan’s Miss Malini and others like Standard Engineering Co., Pan American World Airways used to appear regularly on the front page of The Hindu till 31 January 1948. On 1st February, 1948 they departed from tradtion just for a day though to cover Gandhiji’s assassination. This tradition of having ads on Front Page apparently continued until 1958. I am glad they changed.
The Times of UK kept the front page for ads. I think they went on later than 1958, but I don’t remember.
These days The Hindu is trying hard to be The Guardian. Perhaps, in those days, it was trying to emulate The Times?
i have seen the hindu with classified ads in the first page. it looked awful. my dad bought the express, the ‘other’ english paper then. it was more colourful and exciting to read. yes, the hindu about 1958 and that boosted its circulation. nowadays, i am told, with ram as the editor, hindu is very left wing. from what i gather on the hinduonline on the network, it seemed to be factual as ever. not sure about its leftwing views, though ram for a brief while naxaliate sympathiser.
Whoa, cool trivia
Wow! This feels like one that was pulled out of the closet…
In a quiz competition conducted by our company one question was “Why the Hindu didn’t publish Gandhi’s assassination on the front page ??”
So I think they didn’t publish the news on front page
Can you confirm the same