The 28 March 2010 front page of Hindustan Times |
|
| Type | Daily newspaper |
| Format | Broadsheet |
| Owner | HT Media Ltd |
| Editor-in-chief | Mr Sanjoy Narayan |
| Founded | 1924 |
| Political alignment | Centrist[1] |
| Language | English |
| Headquarters | 18-20 Kasturba Gandhi Marg, New Delhi 110001 India |
| Circulation | 1,143,000 Daily |
| OCLC number | 231696742 |
| Official website | Hindustantimes.com |
Hindustan Times (HT) is an Indian English-language daily newspaper founded in 1924 with roots in the Indian independence movement of the period ("Hindustan" being a historical name for India).[2]
Hindustan Times is the flagship publication of HT Media Ltd. In 2008 the newspaper reported its circulation to be over 1.14 million according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations (India), ranking it as the third largest daily English tabloid in India. The Indian Readership Survey (IRS) 2010 revealed that HT has a readership of (34.67 lakhs), placing it as the second most widely read English newspaper in India after The Times of India.[3] It has a wide reach in northern India, with simultaneous editions from New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Lucknow, Patna, Ranchi, Bhopal and Chandigarh. The print location of Jaipur was discontinued from June 2006. HT launched a youth daily, HT Next, in 2004. The Mumbai edition was launched on 14 July 2005 and the Kolkata edition was launched on early 2000.
Other sister publications of Hindustan Times are Mint (English business daily), Hindustan (Hindi Daily), Nandan (monthly children's magazine) and Kadambani (monthly literary magazine). The media group owns a radio channel, Fever, and organises an annual Luxury Conference which has featured speakers like designer Diane von Fürstenberg, shoemaker Christian Louboutin, Gucci CEO Robert Polet and Cartier MD Patrick Normand. Hindustan Times is owned by the KK Birla branch of the Birla family.
Contents |
Hindustan Times was founded in 1924 by Master Sunder Singh Lyallpuri, founder-father of the Akali movement and the Shiromani Akali Dal in Punjab. S Mangal Singh Gill (Tesildar) and S. Chanchal Singh (Jandiala, Jullundur) were made in charge of the newspaper. Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya and Master Tara Singh were among the members of the Managing Committee. The Managing Chairman and Chief Patron was Master Sunder Singh Lyallpuri.
K. M. Panikkar was its first editor with Devdas Gandhi (son of Mahatma Gandhi) on the editor's panel. The opening ceremony was performed by Mahatma Gandhi on 26 September 1924. The first issue was published from Naya Bazar, Delhi (now Swami Sharda Nand Marg). It contained writings and articles from C. F. Andrews, St. Nihal Singh, Maulana Mohammad Ali, C. R. Reddy (Dr. Cattamanchi Ramalinga Reddy), T. L. Vaswani, Ruchi Ram Sahni, Bernard Haton, Harinder Nath Chattopadhyaya, Dr Saifuddin Kichlu and Rubi Waston etc.
"Sadar Panikkar launched the Hindustan Times as a serious nationalist newspaper. As an Oxonian, historian, and litterateur, Panikkar must have hoped to make his paper eventually more than an Akali sheet. He became the editor and funds flowed freely from activist Akali patrons. He exerted himself strenuously, but the paper made very little headway. In two years Panikkar could not take the print order any higher than 3,000. By then the Akali movement appeared to lose steam and funds dried up. The paper was saved from an untimely demise when Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya stepped in to realise his vision of a newspaper in Delhi." - TJS George, Lessons in Journalism, 2007, Viva Books, New Delhi.
Malaviya raised Rs. 50,000 rupees to acquire the Hindustan Times along with the help of nationalist leaders Lajpat Rai and M. R. Jayakar and industrialist G. D. Birla, who paid most of the cash. Birla took full control of the paper in 1933. The paper continues to be owned by the Birla family.
It has its roots in the Indian independence movement of the first half of the twentieth century and even faced the noted "Hindustan Times Contempt Case (August–November, 1941)" at Allahabad High Court.[4] It was edited at times by many important people in India, including Devdas Gandhi and Khushwant Singh. Sanjoy Narayan, has been appointed the editor in chief of the paper and was due to take over in August 2008.[5] Recently the editorial page has seen a major makeover and has been named "comment" to bring in more flexibility and some-what less seriousness to the page.
HT Mumbai has an eight-page daily lifestyle supplement (in tabloid format) called HT Cafe. It has its education supplement called "Horizons" on Wednesdays. The paper also comes with a magazine on Sundays called Brunch. The Mumbai edition is managed by Mohit Ahuja, an alumnus of NMIMS, Bombay. The resident editor in Mumbai is Soumya Bhattacharya.
The Delhi-based English tabloid Hindustan Times is part of the KK Birla group and managed by Shobhana Bhartia, daughter of the industrialist KK Birla and granddaughter of GD Birla. It is owned by HT Media Ltd. The KK Birla group owns a 69 per cent stake in HT Media, currently valued at Rs 834 crore. When Shobhana Bhartia joined Hindustan Times in 1986, she was the first woman chief executive of a national newspaper. Shobhana has been nominated as a Rajya Sabha MP from Congress Party.
Along with Hindustan Times, HT Media owns Desimartini, Fever 104 FM, and Mint (newspaper).