Impact of social and literary movements on the growth of Kannada journalism in Karnataka

Documenting the history of journalism is important to understand the influence of political, social, economic and cultural factors in the growth of media in general and language media in particular. Language is a vital factor in multilingual society like India. However, the influence of colonial past and the British has given English press the pride of place in the industry relegating language press to the background. Herman Fredrik Moegling of Basel Mission established the first newspaper in Kannada in Mangalore called ‘Mangalura Samachara’ on experimental basis on July 1, 1843. This study is interdisciplinary in nature as it attempts to trace the history of mutual relationship between Kannada journalism and the great literary movement in Kannada literaturewhether it is the phase of ancient literature, Dalit literature or modern literature. Kannada journalism was built on the citadels of rich heritage of Kannada literature. The study reveals that the rebirth of Kannada literature in 19th century assumes importance due to two factors. Firstly, it reestablishes the supremacy of Kannada language and secondly, it lays firm foundation for the birth of Kannada journalis