The Story of Newsday---- a part of A Hariharan's autobiography

The  Story  of  Newsday

By A. Hariharan

 

 

In 1982, a twenty-two year- old kerosene stove is still hissing away in the verandah next to my study. It is now used exclusively for cooking Terry’s ( the female Alsatian inmate of the house) meat. But in 1960, this stove was used to melt the used lino metal from the pages of Newsday, again to be plunged into the pots of two vintage linotype machines. The stove is the only souvenir now left with me of that adventure so many of us shared for a short 10 months in 1960.

When I left The Free Press Journal, I did not have the professional status or social standing of S. Natarajan, who, when he left the paper, took away with him half a dozen experienced journalists to his new habitat, The Bombay Chronicle.

Nevertheless some hot heads resigned soon after I left,and then was born the idea of a newspaper owned by its readers. The team consisted of M.P. Iyer,K. Shivram, M.K.B. Nair,A.K>B. Menon, Bal Thackeray, P. Ravindran, all journalists who had worked for the Free Press Journal, and a lone non-journalist, Sunil Biswas, brother of music director and producer, Anil Biswas, a sympathiser.

The journalists had one thing in common : the proprietors of the Free Press Journal had not kept the journalistic standards set by Sadanand, and they felt it was time to start a cooperative venture where no big money would be involved.

That was also the time, the late 50’s, when all newspapers in Bombay tended to blackout all trade union news. There was no difficulty to give a title to the owners of the new paper.

As we intended, the readers would own it- Readers’ Publication Limited was registered with the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies. Shares priced at Rs. 10 were to be sold to all prospective readers and others who really wanted to help a venture such as this were allowed to invest a maximum of Rs. 1,000.

Our own philosophy of the newspaper was set out in these words: “Readers” Publications Ltd. Is the first venture of its kind planned to ensure healthy cooperation between intelligent newspaper readers and conscientious working journalists. Basically, the idea was born out of revolt- revolt against the treacherous curbs on thoughts and ideas imposed by the overlords of the press; revolt against tyranny that is unscrupulous and insidious which has made a mockery of the freedom of the press by forging shackles on the reporter, the sub-editor, the cartoonist, the columnist and the editor

The press today has passed into the hands of vested interests. It is controlled by men who have big stakes in business profits and in politicking by small men who will trade for a licence or some preference, by those who have no stakes in the profession and no conscience worth the mention.

Have you ever paused awhile to figure out how and why yesterday’s stockbroker has suddenly got transferred into today’s newspaper proprietor? Have you enquired why and how most of the newspapers most of the time shout and scream against popular movements and government measures which ( your instinct and reason tell you) are just and justified? It’s time every intelligent newspaper reader did just that....

“It’s not the journalist alone who is concerned with the freedom of the press. Every citizen whi has a stake in the future of the Republic is vitally concerned with the Fourth Estate. That’s where we begin :for Readers” publications Ltd., offers an opportunity to every intelligent newspaper reader to own a newspaper in association with experienced working journalists who will run the paper--- a paper which will have no axes to grind and no punches to pull where the interests of the people and nation are concerned.

Just imagine a newspaper that is not owned by big business or managed by small merchants. Think of a newspaper that is owned by say, 50,000 ordinary Indian newspaper readers- a paper that is run by experienced journalists whose interest begins and ends with straight and simple journalism. Such a newspaper, if only it can be a reality, can, and will keep news sacred and let comment be free.

Today, such a newspaper is in the realm of reality. That newspaper is going through its birthpangs. When it is born, it will be the first free newspaper in the country owned and run by the people for the people. That newspaper is proposed to be called Newsday.

From the very outset the promoters realised that the support and backing of the working class of Bombay were vital to the success of the project and they sought the cooperation of several trade union leaders of the city. A public appeal was issued under the names of M.V. Donde, George Fernandes, G. H. Kale, Maniben Kara, S. R. Kulkarni,S.Y. Kolhatkar, Raja Kulkarni, P.K. Menon, Vithal Chowdhary,  H.N. Trivedi, G. Sundaram, P.K. Sawant, Rajni Patel, Manohar Kotwal, D.K. Kunte, M.R. Kulkarni,Tulsi Boda, R.J. Mehta,A.S.R. Chari, K.K. Mundul  and R.S. Tonsekar.

They said, “ A newspaper owned by its readers and run by experienced journalists must command the unflinching support of everyone who takes a healthy interest in current affairs, especially the working class and the middle class who today find it difficult to secure a platform to ventilate their views. Readers’ Publications Ltd.,-- a cooperative venture of working journalists and intelligent readers—has come into being with the specific object of publishing such a newspaper.”

“ The promoters of Readers’ Publication Ltd., plan to start their  reader-participation English daily in Bombay soon after they collect Rs. 4 lakh through ordinary 10-rupee-shares”.

The task of approaching several thousands of newspaper readers is a stupendous one. It is here that trade unions and other organisations of workers and the middle class have a major role to play.The promoters largely depend on trade unions and popular organisations to help them in enlisting subscribers to the share capital.

“ We have discussed this with pioneering project with the promoters and are convinced that it deserves the full cooperation and support of all those who feel the need for an independent newspaper. We appeal to all trade unions and organisations, irrespective of political or other affiliations, to support this progressive venture and enlist every worker as a shareholder in Readers’ Publications Ltd. It is a project, the success of which largely depends on the support it receives from trade unions. It is a project, the success of which will greatly help trade unionism in the country”.

All these were big names among the working class of Bombay at that time and some of them are still commanding the allegiance of several thousand transport, dock, textile and chemical and engineering workers.

Many of them were confident that it would be easy to persuade union members to buy a share in the new company which would float a daily morning English paper, committed to giving publicity to all news pertaining to trade union activity, but not bound to support every strike or every demand of the workers. Some of the signatories to the appeal also held out the hope that they would be able to enrol as many as 20,000 or 30,000 individual 10-rupee-shareholders.

On the strength of these assurances, the promoters went ahead printing share certificates and going around the city, visiting residential colonies, canvassing from door-to-door as the city was being lashed by the monsoon of 1959. In July of that year, the target date for the new paper was January 26, 1960, but by November end the number of shareholders had not come up even to 10,000  and our capital was under Rs. 50,000. We had nothing else with us except our journalistic experience.

Should the project be postponed or abandoned? Should we opt for a daily, or for the time being, only have a Sunday morninger. These agitated all of us. Eventually it was decided that the target date must be met and that it would be a daily morninger. This again was decided on the hope held out by our backers that once the paper started publication, more and more shareholders could be enrolled.

The next big question was the mechanics of getting the paper printed.We had no press or type-setting machines, we had no rotary to print the paper. All that we had at that stage was an office with 2 small rooms in the Aga Khan Building of Dalal Street. It was a crazy idea with all of us that we should have an address at Dalal Street from where the Free Press Journal was being published.

M.P. Iyer, who was the most outstanding crime reporter in Bombay, had very many contacts in useful places and so had both, Ravindran and Bal Thackeray. Initially they had thought of getting the paper set up and printed at Acharya Atre’s Maratha, which had both, spare office space and printing capacity. This fell through possibly because Maratha did not consider us financially sound.

Hectic exploration continued for other means. Finally, it was thought advisable we should go to someone who knew the problems of a daily paper and the choice fell on Vindhya Press owned by K.S.S. Raghavan ( formerly of the Free Press Journal & Bombay Chronicle). At his premises on Bhavanishankar Road, he had one large office room and opposite to that the press which had 3 lino machines. This, however, did not solve our problem. He could spare the machines only at night and 3 lino machines could not cope with the news copy even of a 4-page newspaper.

Thus it was that we were compelled to operate from two places.All day we slogged away at Dalal Street getting news copy composed at another small press in Gunbow Street and at night the crew shifted its venue to Vindhya Press. At both places we had PTI teleprinters and the Vindhya office was at our disposal all night. In a dilapidated van whatever was composed at the Fort press was carted to Bhavanishankar Road. The pages were made up there and then...

Well, I am going ahead of the fevelopments as they actually occurred.The choice of a name for the paper presented many problems.It had to be one that did not figure on the Directory of the Registrar of Newspapers. Our first preference was Daily News, but there was a daily bulletin of that name put out by the Bombay Cotton Exchange. Such was the fate of several other titles.

One afternoon, we met Gulzarilal Nanda,then Union Labour Minister, when he had come to Bombay when this topic cropped up again. Finally, it was he who asked “ Why not Newsday?”I wonder whether he was aware at that time there was in Long Island, New York, Newsday which was a very successful paper. I did not.

Having got a name and managing to scrape throught the composing problem, we still had to find a place where the paper could be printed. Some of us met Junior Cama of the Bombay Chronicle Press which had the capacity to print.( The Chronicle had closed down earlier). Like all hard-headed businessmen he made several enquiries about our finances and our backers and he finally popped the question: “Why don’t you revive the Bombay Chronicle?”

Looking back on the troubles and travails we went through, now I think that was not a bad suggestion. But that would not have been our paper and we could not have redeemed the pledge we had made to our shareholders. So that was out.

Our next call was at the RMDC Press in Worli where Chamarbaughwala had  an excellent press and a rotary that could print either a tabloid or a normal sized newspaper. I had known RMDC when he was associated with the Sunday Standard and I was a mere sub-editor there. After he left the Standard he had gone in for the English football pools and later to the RMDC crosswords from Bangalore because the puritan Bombay Government had banned crosswords carrying attractive prizes.

Though he had a rotary it was not put to much use and we went to the old man for advice and help. Again it was a hard nut to crack. Businessman from head to toe,he agreed to compose some copy for us plus print the paper on the rotary, provided we did not ask for a single day’s credit. Which meant he will print the paper one day and before he accepted the order for the next day, we had to pay up by a cheque that would not bounce, and if it bounced we had to pay in cash, otherwise the contract was null and void.

He also gave us some fatherly advice: “Why not a tabloid? Why not get in some big shots to invest money when you have their good will? Your trade union politics is all nonsense.” Anyway, it was Chamarbaughwala who agree to print our paper on the morningof January 25, 1960, a day ahead of the target date.

The logistics of this operation meant editorial work at two places, composing at three places, pages being made up at Dadar and finally carried to the rMDC Press at Worli for printing. Our operations started each day around 10 a.m. and did not end until 6 a.m. the next day!

Though we did not have money, we had a good name in the market. With a talented cartoonist like Thackeray in our team we had to capitalize on his pungent comments on current affairs. This meant expenses on block-making- Bombay’s leading block-maker Express Blocks helped us out, never asking payment for months. When Newsday finally closed down they were one of the principle losers.

Fida Ali, the city’s leading newsprint dealers, also gave us credit. Our 4-page paper at that stage needed only one roll for 2 days.They were also losers in the end. The only party which exacted every pie was the RMDC.

Among our shareholders were such distinguished people like V.K. Krishna Menon who wrote a very encouraging and sympathetic letter and subscribed for 25 shares.

Menon wrote : “ I am glad to hear journalists cooperating to promote the profession. You may recall that I spoke under the auspices of the Working Journalists in Bombay 2-3 months ago on the subject of cooperation in relation to newspaper production.”

“ You have been good enough to send me some share application forms for your new venture. I feel people ought to associate themselves with a venture of this kind without in any way trying to seek or obtain and influence, or to place themselves in a position of direct or indirect control. This is the way of cooperation. I hope all those who work in your venture will also become shareholders in it now, or in the future- and your readers will also do the same progressively. This can happen if you persevere and demonstrate to the people the purpose and possibilities of cooperation”.

“ I enclose a cheque for Rs. 150 and a share application form,if your society is in a position to allot me 15 shares, which I hope serves as a token of participation. I wish your venture success”.

I don’t think we receives a more encouraging or more sincere message from another.

Among the other shareholders were S.K. Patil, K.K. Shah, Rajni Patel, Dr. A. V. Baliga, very many film stars and journalists and people from advertising and public relations.

Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s secretary wrote to say that as a  matter of principle the Prime Minister could not subscribe to the shares, but wished the project every success.

On the morning of January 25, when we reached the RMDC Press with our four pages, it was past six o’clock, and the “old” man who was present at the rotary press was furious telling us” at this rate you will never reach any where”.

Reluctantly he agreed to print the paper, muttering that we may have to pay overtime to his staff who had been summoned to print the paper at 4 a.m. I remember, having been late on the first day, we printed only some 5,000 copies.

Selling the paper was as difficult as producing it. The newspaper distribution in Bombay for long had been the monopoly of 3 leading agents, one of them a politically conscious UP man, who had established his business in Bombay in a thorough-going manner. Even when the paper was printed on time and people asked for it, the usual answer was,” it has not come out today” and later we discovered many copies of the paper tucked away under the unsolds of various other newspapers of the previous day. After working for 18 or 20 hours a day, we did not have the energy to hawk the paper ourselves nor had we the resources to bribe the agents and the hawkers.

All the time, some of us had to persevere with selling shares,some had to chase advertisers. The brunt of the editorial work fell on M.K.B. Nair and A.K.B. Menon; K. Shivaram continued with enrolling shareholders, seeking advertisements and driving the van from one joint to another. Ravindran was, by far, the most successful, both in getting financial backing and advertisements. There was some professional jealousy  between Ravindran and Thackeray, both being cartoonists and we had  resources to use only one, the latter being the better artist. But I don’t think this ever came to a head.

Since we left the Free Press Journal, some of us had drawn a salary though the articles of association provided for a remuneration of Rs. 500 to the promoters who were working for the paper in a full-time capacity.

In the chequered 10-month-long history of Newsday, only once was this amount paid out. Financially I was the most solid of this whole team: I had 16 months’ provident fund accumulations, 8 months gratuity, six months’ severance pay which all added up to about Rs. 40,000.

As Newsday was slowly creeping towards its eventual end, much of this saving was ploughed into the paper to meet the demanda of creditors. Myself and Shivram had small babies for whom we could not buy tinned milk; the other colleagues had lived on onions and buttermilk on several nights. The morale was slowly sinking but no one was willing to call it a day.

Among the morale-boosters was the late R.P. Iyer, who used to write a satirical column under the title”Arpee’s Arena”. P.K. Ravindranath, though not a regular member of the team, helped us with cinema reviews. M.R. Gopalakrishnan, Sadasivan and Bhaskaran helped with subbing, the last doing the sports coverage too.

Although the promoters all had above average journalistic abilities, none of them could practice their profession because of the other pressures. I don’t recall M.P. Iyer, the ace reporter ever having done full justice to a story.

One plank on which we hoped to capitalise wa the bifurcation of  Bombay into Maharashtra and Gujarat, with Bombay city s capital of the former. But even before Newsday was born, the Centre had undone the mischief of the State’s Reorganisation Commission. Two months after the launching of the paper, came the Central Government employees’ strike on which some of us had held different views.

My personal view was that the leadership was weak, that the strike would fizzle out and, whatever strength the employees had acquire would be dissipated, and that it would take another decade to recover from the debacle. Some others on the team felt that  a paper like Newsday pledged to back the working classes should take a sympathetic attitude to the strike.

Anyway even though the coverage of the strike news raised the circulation of the paper to a dizzy 42,000 from a paltry 4,000, the strike brought about a split and both, M.K.B. Nair and A.K.B. Menon resigned. This did not precipitate the decline of the paper, but now I realise I should have accepted the majority verdict, though it could not be easily ascertained as all six of us  could seldom meet.

Meanwhile, the financial crisis deepened. K.K. Shah came to our rescue- we had to  depart from our principles and welcome support from wherever it came. Fatehsingh Gaikwad, then Deputy Minister for Defence, contributed Rs. 50,000 with no strings. When that money came, all of us took one month’s salary, but the whole of it vanished in no time as  we had to clear up arrears.

Apart from his share money of Rs.1,000, Dr. Baliga contributed another Rs. 5,000; Manubhai Bhimani, another sympathiser pumped in Rs.19,000. I took a personal loan from all those who would lend to a sinking ship, among them S.A. Sabavala, Manubhai and some of my neighbours. 

We had some advertising support, notably from ISCON which was then constructing the steel plant in Durgapur, from Imperial Tobacco Company, from Khatau, Stanvac and Lintas,the Central Government’s advertising wing-DAVP- also helped because of the good offices of men like  Krishna Menon and Gulzarilal Nanda.

Our trade union patrons lets us down badly. George fernandes who ws the undisputed leader of several powerful unions and hoped to raise Rs. 3 lakh, could not do better than Rs. 19,000, the highest that any of the signatories to the appeal did. In a crisis, he had even drawn from the union funds to the tune of Rs. 10,000 and to bail him out, the first call on the Baroda bounty was the return of this unauthorised loan. Share money came in small trickles, but when the final tally was made,we had collected only Rs. 49,000 through members of Readers’ Publications Limited.

Vindhya Press soon gave up composing because we had defaulted; Fida Ali had reached his limit in extending newsprint credit and RMDC refused to give credit even for a single day.

Early in September, Newsday was bankrupt, though there was an outstanding of a few thousands from advertisers. The paper had to be closed down. Readers’ Publications Ltd., was there, an acrimonious annual general meeting was held, when some members suggested liquidation of the company. For that, another notice had to be served, the creditors informed and another meeting held. We did not have the money to summon a meeting or liquidate the company.

About that time, the team had also been reduced by strength. The sheer problem of making both ends meet made Bhaskaran, Thackeray, M.R.G and others to seek jobs elsewhere. Myself, Iyer and Shivram were left on the scene along with Matkekar who was accountant, company secretary,sales organiser, all rolled into one.

Hope, they say, is eternal. We still hoped to resurrect Newsday and we did. This time, it was Dharamsey Khatau who came to our rescue. At a long meeting we had at the Lakshmi Building, at the instance of Manubhai Bhimani, he asked us what our problems were and on being told we did not have the tools, only the readiness to work, he asked what the machinery would cost.We opted to buy 3 lino machines for which Khatau agreed to give us a loan of Rs. 1 lakh. Two we bought from RMDC and a third from some other party. These were installed in a shed given to us by RMDC in Parel.

With renewed hope we started work again but this time the printing had to be done at the Associated Printers of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan.They also wanted cash payment every day. From September to mid-November we dragged along and somehow managed to bring out the paper. A day before Nehru’s birthday ( November 14), Associated Printers also refused us credit and that was the end of Newsday.

In a last desperate effort we went to S.K. Patil who was unmoved, and Dr. Baliga said he had committed heavily to the Link magazine and could not help us.

On the evening of the 13 th I wept on the terrace of the Aga Khan Building and Iyer drew me back fearing I may jump off. Months later Edatata Narayanan and K. D. Malaviya agreed to take over the lino machines, which legally were the property of one of the mills owned by the Khataus. These machines went to the Patriot which was launched in 1963 in the capital.

When the final obsequies were over, all of us went different ways in search of jobs. But, for quite a long time, there were whispers as to who lost and who gaine through this misadventure. There were insinuations that some of the promoters had made money by diverting funds collected for the paper. To the best of my knowledge, not a single one of us connected with the paper made any money and, as stated earlier through the 10-month-long ordeal, no one got more than Rs.500 as a month’s salary.

There were no secret negotiations for salvaging the paper. At one time, there was a suggestion that S.A. Dange’s son-in-law may take over the paper. It fell through because he was not sure whether he was buying a viable proposition. The only other political approach we made was before the paper was started. We had made inquiries if we could get Soviet printing and linotype machinery on concessional terms and deferred payments. They declined.

Almost all those who associated with Newsday were losers---all the shareholders, all the sympathisers who gave loans, C.A. Menon, High Court Advocate who looked after and advised on legal matters without any compensation, and even the peons, some of whom had come from the Free Press Journal. No doubt the RMDC benefitted because they exacted each day in cash the moneys owed to them and they were also able to sell off two old lino machines to us at a reasonable price. I am not sure what the Patriot paid for the lino machines and what Khatau lost in the bargain.

For 2 years, after the closure of the paper, as the company had not gone into liquidation, the directors were plagued by the aftermath of failure.Telephone bills, subscriptions to the Press Trust of India,dues on newsprint and block-making, unpaid wages, rent on office premises and a dozen other demands were being pressed on us. Of these, the telephone bills were settled against moneys owed us by the Government of India for advertising. During the week that Newsday was facing closure, we learnt afterwards, Lintas ( advertising agency for Hindustan Lever) had decided to give us a contract for Rs.6,000 for the first quarter of 1961, the DAVP also had decided to help us in a bigger way than before. We just could not keep the paper alive to make use of these gestures of goodwill.

I and my colleagues have often asked ourselves: Why Newsday had failed? Some newspapermen were of the view that no two journalists could agree, that a cooperative would never succeed. Even today, I do not believe this to be correct. We had minor differences on policy but these could have been ironed out by compromise and more intelligent discussion than was possible under the stress and strain of the daily routine. I still do not doubt our ability to produce a good newspaper. All those involved with Newsday have fared very well in the profession under more severe standards of judgement.

The basic drawback of the project was that we did not have a press of our own. We did not have enough money to pay for  every service and goods that we bought. We should have been content  with a weekly morninger, like the present Sunday Observer of Bombay. We could have devoted at least 5 days a week to professional work and produce an acceptable paper. Once that was established, we could have had better response from the public for a daily.

Some have pointed out that the trade union bias of the paper was the cause of its downfall.This again, I don’t believe, for we were not committed to support blindly every trade union demand. Of course, we learnt, at a heavy cost, that the union leaders’ promises are not to be taken at their face value.

Some one asked me the other day: Would you or why don’t you do it again? No. A newspaper is so capital intensive, that if I had the capital, I would rather lend it to Khatau Voiles or Vimal Fabrics at 15 per cent interest and relax, reading Peter Cheyney.