N Vinoth Kumar
Being a
journalist, I am always eager to read books written by senior journalists about
their journalism. Those books show not only their experiences but also serves
as a guidebook for other journalists. One can get sufficient amount of
knowledge through those books, when it would not be possible to work under them
and schooled by them.
One such
book I recently read was, ‘Dinathanthiyudan Enadhu Payanam’ by I Shanmuganathan,
published by Chennai-based Thazhal Publication. He served as the editor of one
of the leading Tamil daily ‘Dinathanthi’ for more than seven decades. In the
history of Tamil journalism, it can be easily said that he was the first and only
one who served as longstanding editor for a single newspaper throughout his
life. The second man in the line could be AN Sivaraman of ‘Dinamani’, (the
Tamil newspaper from the now ‘The New Indian Express Group’) who served as the
editor of the daily for more than four decades.
‘Dinathanthi’
(called ‘Daily Thanthi’ in English), founded in 1942, has become a household
name among Tamil population across the globe. One of its significant success
was democratizing the language, for its simple Tamil garnered a wider
readership. Though I have reservations for some of its styles such as usage of
words while reporting about sex work and rape, news selection, its feudal-like
administration, etc, its determination to provide news objectively makes it to
stand out from other vernacular newspapers.
People would
say that ‘Dinathanthi’ is biased because it always gives importance to
government. I see it differently. Providing space for the government doesn’t
mean it has decided to crawl or shifting loyalties between DMK and AIADMK,
rather it supports government, irrespective of the parties in the power.
Remember: Parties are different, government is different.
One of the
major strengths of the newspaper is its reporters. It has reporters and
stringers even at the block level, so that it ensures reader even a minor
development at a hinterland would not be missed. One can often wonder the way
it trains its cub reporters who mostly hail from souther Tamil Nadu districts
such as Tiruneveli, Virudhunagar, Thoothukudi and Kanyakumari, where Nadar
community is thickly populated. It provides hostel facilities to its reporters
and sub-editors and sow the seeds of loyalty to its leadership at the beginning
of their careers. Once it had a 16 lakh readership which is now plummeted to 11
lakh as of 2023.
Who would
not be interested to work in such a media, which has a solid base and
readership? Shanmuganathan was one such person, who instead of taking up a
government job which could have been a cakewalk, chose journalism that is
filled with thorns and stones.
Born in
1935 April 19 in Trichy, Shanmuganathan had run ‘Vennila’ a small-time hand-written
magazine in his school days. After completing his SSLC exam, he joined ‘Dinathanthi’
as a sub-editor at the age of 18 in 1953 September. It is interesting to note
when it is being the unwritten rule that when you apply for a job even in a
Tamil newspaper you have to send the application in English, Shanmuganathan
sent his application in Tamil which became the reason for his immediate hiring.
During his
induction period, the newspaper’s founder S P Adithanar called Shanmuganathan
to his room and explained about Dinathanthi’s workflow. He took a copy of
Britain-based ‘Daily Mirror’ and said, “Shanmuganathan! This is the largest selling
newspaper in the world today. About 30 lakh copies. Surprising no..! What is
there in this newspaper for such large circulation? They won’t give importance
to speeches but incidents. If we work hard, we too can grow.”
Shanmuganathan
followed his words in both letter and spirit. He focused more on human interest stories. He
rewrote the copies, edited it, done ground reporting and above all shaped many
journalists of today. He grew alongside the paper. He taught himself English, rubbed
his shoulders with leaders and celebrities and brought a distinctive style to
the newspaper.
In this book, he narrates his journalism heydays through the lens of India’s, Tamil Nadu’s and the newspaper’s own history. Before the World War II, ‘Dinathanthi’ also ran publications such as ‘Dinathoodhu’ and ‘Dinathaal’ which were stopped during the war due to shortage in newsprint papers. In 1954 September, the newspaper launched its Trichy edition and made Shanmuganathan as News Editor, within a year of his entry into journalism.
He was
trained by writers such as Pa Singaram, whose works ‘Kadalukku Appaal’ and ‘Puyalile
Oru Thoni’ which were considered as the first migration literature in Tamil. As
a news editor of Trichy edition, one of his earliest reporting was the coverage
of Ariyalur rail accident. It was the accident that pushed the then railway
minister Lal Bahadur Shastri to resign his post. Shanmuganathan was also the
first one to break that the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru sought the
yesteryear superstar M K Thyagaraja Bagavathar to contest in the 1957
elections.
In 1960,
Shanmuganathan was transferred to Chennai to see its operations. Under his
editorship, ‘Dinathanthi’ was the first Tamil daily to publish the news of the assassination
of US President John F Kennedy in 1963. It was the time, when the print media
was highly relied on PTI tele-printers. One reason Shanmuganathan says why the
other Tamil newspapers failed to carry the assassination news was failing to
stay late into the night in the office!
As a
journalist, the chapter which I liked most in this book was about the coverage
of former Primer Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination. That was the time when
the English daily ‘The Hindu’ was using its private flight to distribute the
copies to the other centres such as Trichy, Madurai and Coimbatore, so that even
the mid-night developments would not be missed. At that time other newspapers
generally wind up their editions before midnight.
In 1991,
during the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, ‘The Hindu’ some how missed to cover
or photograph the incident. To manage the miss, it sought the help of ‘Dinathanthi’.
It asked to share some of its photographs of the incident and said it will
credit them by providing photography credits. However, the chief general
manager of ‘Dinathanthi’ did not come forward to share their photos. (On the
side note, this shows how the administration has an upper hand than the editorial
in the daily workflow of ‘Dinathanthi’, which is still in practice)
‘Dinathanthi’s
missed opportunity was ‘Dinamalar’s gain. The latter is the rival of the
former. While it was ready to share the photos, it asked ‘The Hindu’ to
distribute ‘Dinamalar’ copies in flight to the other centres. The deal was
accepted. The result: ‘The Hindu’ saved its face for the day. ‘Dinamalar’
raised its publishing quality of the photographs. Whereas photographs published
in ‘Dinathanthi’ was in poor quality.
Besides the
journalist’s journey, the book is filled with many interesting trivias: 1947
August 15 was the only day in which all the prisons across India was vacant; the
radio announcers repeatedly announced the killing of Gandhi by saying ‘a Hindu man
Nathuram Godse shot Gandhi’, to avoid any communal riots; actor Sarathkumar’s
father was well-known radio announcer Ramanathan; first article of
Krishnamurthy under the pen name ‘Kalki’ was published in Anada Vikatan was titled
‘Yettikku Potti’.
The book
under the review was the final work of Shanmuganathan. His previous works
include ‘Varalatru Chuvadugal’, ‘Ulaga Varalaru – Karkaalam Mudhal Computer
Kaalam Varai’, ‘Ulaga Varalaru – Bhoomi Thondriyathu Mudhal Indru Varai’, ‘Tamil
Nadu – Sanga Kaalam Mudhal Semmozhi Kaalam Varai’, ‘Ulaga Varalaatru Kalanjiyam’,
‘Oru Tamilan Paarvaiyil Irubathaam Nootraandu Varalaru’, ‘Idhayam Eluthiya
Kavithai’ (novel) all written under the name ‘Nathan’.
For all his journalistic achievements, Shanmuganathan was awarded the inaugural ‘Kalaignar Eluthukol Virudhu’ in 2021. It is only poetic to note that Shanmuganathan’s first article in print was about the reporting of former chief minister M Karunanidhi’s Kallakudi protests.
While knowing the achievements of ‘Dinanthanthi’, one can understand that it can be on a par with ‘Daily Mirror’, if only it aims for some more responsible, sensible news business.
