The Statesman
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The 30 March 2010, front page of
The Statesman |
|
| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet |
| Owner(s) | The Statesman Limited |
| Publisher | The Statesman Ltd. |
| Editor | Ravindra Kumar |
| Founded | 1818, 1875 (Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. issues) |
| Political alignment | Independent[1] |
| Language | English |
| Headquarters | 4 Chowringhee Square, Kolkata, 700001 |
| Circulation | 180,000 Daily 230,000 Sunday |
| Sister newspapers | Dainik Statesman |
| OCLC number | 1772961 |
| Website | thestatesman.com |
The Statesman is an Indian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper founded in 1875 and published simultaneously in Kolkata, New Delhi, Siliguri and Bhubaneswar. The Statesman incorporates and is directly descended from The Friend of India, founded in 1818. The Statesman is owned by The Statesman Ltd. Its headquarters are located at Statesman House, Chowringhee Square, Kolkata, and its national editorial office is in Statesman House, Connaught Place, New Delhi. It is a member of the Asia News Network.
The Statesman has an average weekday circulation of approximately 180,000, and the Sunday Statesman has a circulation of 230,000. This ranks the Statesman as one of the leading English newspapers in West Bengal, India.[2]
Contents
History
The Statesman is a direct descendant of two newspapers, The Englishman and The Friend of India, both published in Calcutta (now Kolkata). The Englishman was started in 1811 by Robert Knight, who was previously the principal founder and editor of The Times of India. Knight founded The Statesman and New Friend of India on 15 January 1875, which later adopted the current name. The Statesman was managed by a British corporate group until it transferred ownership to a consortium of companies with N A Palkhivala as Chairman in the mid-1960s. The first editor assigned under this new ownership was Pran Chopra.
Editorial style
The Statesman is characterized by its terse reporting style. It holds an independent anti-establishment position. It opposed the shifting of India's capital from Calcutta to New Delhi in 1911, stating that "[t]he British have gone to the city of graveyards to be buried there". It also strenuously opposed Indira Gandhi's Emergency in 1975-77.
The Statesman Award for Rural Reporting is presented to outstanding journalists every year, irrespective of affiliation, to further the social uplifting of indigents from India. The awards are presented on the 16th of September every year, the death anniversary of Justice Sudhi Ranjan Das, former Chief Justice of India's Supreme Court and chairman of The Statesman during the tumultuous Emergency years.
Once the most widely read English dailies in West Bengal, The Statesman has now lost some ground to The Telegraph, The Times of India and Hindustan Times in the state. But it is widely regarded as the paper to read for serious news reportage and incisive analytical articles.
The Statesman is a founding member of the Asia News Network, a grouping of 22 Asian newspapers that have joined hands for a daily news exchange. This allows The Statesman to offer exhaustive coverage of all Asian regions.
Supplements
Notable among all of the supplements of The Statesman is the Thursday feature supplement called "Section 2" which is published in New Delhi. The four-page supplement is widely recognised for in-depth analysis on art, dance, drama, fashion, lifestyle and entertainment. In Kolkata, supplement Voices focuses on schools and schoolchildren. It has gained enormous popularity since its inception in 1995, providing the opportunity for school children to showcase their writing skills with research articles, poems and short news clips.
Voices boasts of a large number of "Coordinators", or school reporters, who form the basic framework of Voices and the conduit between The Statesman and school children. Among other activities every year, Voices hosts the 2-day long festival called "Vibes" in Calcutta, which showcases inter-school competitions in different fields, as well as shows by popular musicians and bands.
The Sunday supplement, 8th Day, is the major literary section of the paper, consisting of the reader-contributed 'Short story' and 'Stanza'(poem) while the other Sunday Supplement, Evolve, mainly deals with the cultural scene in India. Marquee, published every Saturday, covers the film and entertainment scene.
Key editorial personnel
Ravindra Kumar is Editor of The Statesman. Usha Mahadevan is Resident Editor of The Statesman, Delhi. K. Ravi is Resident Editor of The Statesman, Bhubaneswar.
Sister Edition Dainik Statesman, a daily Bengali newspaper, was launched in June 2004 and is published simultaneously in Kolkata and Siliguri.
Editorial incident
In February 2009, editor Ravindra Kumar and former publisher Anand Sinha of The Statesman were arrested on the charges of "hurting the religious feelings" of Muslims.[3] BBC reported that the Muslims were upset with The Statesman for reproducing Johann Hari's article "Why should I respect these oppressive religions?" from the UK's The Independent daily in its February edition. [4]
Events organised by The Statesman
Statesman Vintage & Classic Car Rally
See also
- Dainik Statesman
- Indian English
- List of newspapers in India by circulation
- List of newspapers in the world by circulation
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ About Statesman. Subir Bhaumik.
- ↑ Pair held for 'offending Islam' BBC News. Subir Bhaumik.
- ↑ The editor and publisher of a major Indian newspaper.. The Independent
Further reading
- Merrill, John C. and Harold A. Fisher. The world's great dailies: profiles of fifty newspapers (1980) pp 294-97
