Maran inesy enna of nas & Sol Sec (A Nant Reed BAe rel) YI Se, Doar 117 ISM 295 7852 ‘The Press in Mizoram: A View from the Perimeter Dr. Ankurtn Dutta’ LateDr.Anamika Ray” Abstract ‘The mass media isnot solely influenced bythe industrialised culture, maybe because ofthe location or the population or for a constructive competition. Media of Mizoram, ‘hilly Indian state nested in the north easter par. is under such category, where @ ‘small numberof people enjoy a large numberof media at their doorstep. Theresearch {s basically a combination of qualitative and quanttaive analyses. The researchers ‘have tried to find out the root of journalism in Mizoram, more particularly ike present sconario of Printmedia industry inthe tate. The present status ofthe pressin Mizoram is far from satisfactory. The eirealaton is limited so also the advertising revenue. In the absence of any industrial or corporate suppor, newspapers in Mizoram mostly ‘have to depend upon the government support. Keywords: Print Media, Mizoram, circulation and Advertising Revenue Introduction: report The “tp sory” ofthe cay has to ‘Thepreseatindastiazed world hasbeen DeDIsKE rom the milion fins that ee ee ene happened that particular day. Act ‘Jennifer Akin has mentioned inan article *0msthing io deemed neweworthy, there See ana are decisions on how much tine orpace a ee emctg 10 aie i, whom to interview, wh ‘the ear, the computer at work, and the Pictures to use, and how to frame it Akin, aoe a re te 2005). Although these deciions are media, channels. daily. delivering s'ppoted toe ake by the efor o his ™ re ea ett Sshordnate colleagute, but now the ee eg cent opinion ofthe maragenont donates the ori eee the codemnangcleet fle of the cdilor. These are now the media hes citer positively or depending upon the interest ofthe ‘negatively influenced the general masses. ™anagement of the media house and the ‘eetvelinfuencn he Eee act arkel vale of those patrar news they create the news by deciding what to oducts. Bu still there are plaes, where + Distr Dota Aste Profor an ent Depret of Commun noma, ‘Gahan Univly omaha anand cr ‘ate Asmi ay wa Amita Pofewr nDenent cf Communion ad Souls, (aah Uae, Gave 123De Ankaran Du & Late Dr Anam Ray the mass media isnot solely influenced by the industrialised culture, may be, ‘beeause ofthe location or the population or fora constructive competition. Media ‘of Mizoram, ahilly Indian state nested in the north eastern part, is under such category, where asmall numberof people enjoy a large number of media st their doorstep, ‘Objective: The main objective of the present article isto present a bird's eye view of the media in Mizoram, Methodology: The research is basically & combination of qualitative and ‘quantitative analyses. The researchers hhave tried to find out the roots of journalism in Mizoram, more particularly the present scenario of media industry in the sate. To collect the primary data, the researcher's assistant visited Mizoram in ‘March, 2012 nd stayed in Aizawl forfour days. He visited the office of te Directorate of Information and Public Relation, Govt. of Mizoram and interviewed the officials including the Director. He also visited twenty-two ‘newspaper houses based in Aizawl, where the sample comprises of daily newspapers, weekly newspapers, and monthly ‘magazines published in Mizo and English languages. Hehas personally interviewed the editors or publishers of these media ‘houses ogaterinformaton onthe history of their newspaper, present status, circulation, employees, advertising revenue, editorial policy and media Forthe secondary da, the scarcer has not received any formal dicuments on the media of Mizoram. He has visited several times theofficial website of the staie government, DIPR, Press Information Bureau, Registrar of [Newspaper for India and Prasar Bharati, ‘The researcher browsed thraugh several books and official documents, which included the census repors, statistics of the State and annual report. History ‘The first newspaper to be published from the state was “Laisuth". Mizo CChanchin Laisuih was the first Mizo Joumal edited by CoptainJ. Shakespeare, then Assistant Political Officer! ‘Superintendent ofthe Lushai Hills which ‘was published in August, 1898, It was a handuwriten cyclostyedtabloié which was ‘soon substtued by a monthly journal "Mizo leh Vai Chanchin Lehthabu’ published ayain by Captain. J ‘Shakespeare. It was the mos! consistent and regular monthly journal in Mizo ‘islet edited by Makthanga daring 1911- 1936. The 14-pages jourmal included ‘human intrest stories and sctirites ofthe government. It was soon fellowed by fiom Aizawl, now the highes\ cireulated ‘monthly magazine in Mizoran, ‘The firs printing press ‘Loch Printing Press later changed to "Synod Press’ was ‘xablshedin 1911. There wasemergence of a community-oriented magazine in 4‘The Pret Mizoram: A View tome Pviser 1934, by Baptist Mission of Lunglei ‘pamed as “Tlawmngaihna’. Another such ‘monthly published by the Baptist Church ‘of Serkavn in 1947 was ‘Kohhran Beng” sill ineieulaton. “LSA (ater Mizo Ziti Pewl or MZP), a monthly mouthpiece of ‘the Lushai Studens' Association made is appearancein September 1938 tconsised oflitrary writings, current afl, patie sticks and was fist edited by LH Liana. The frst Mizo weekly magazine ‘Tur Hapta Chanchi’ appeared in September 1939 edited by Liankhuma. Inthe same year ‘Nitin Chanchinbu’, the frst daily Tewspaper wae published by A.GMe Call then Superintendent of Lushai Hill. n September 1946, the first Mizo political Journal named as “Mio Chanchinb’, 2o- edited by Thanblira, Thanbuaia and Lalthlamuana was published; soon {followed by ‘Zoram Thypuan’in 1947 and "Mizo rain 1948 (Pandey, 2013. p 140), However, the rst English newspaper ‘was “Highlander' on Soptember 7, 1972 ‘and “Mizoram Usaya’ waste First Hind ‘weekly newspaper in Lunglei district. It was fist published on December 20,2010, ‘There was a growth of journalism in ‘Mizoram from 1990 onward as anumber ‘of newspapers and journals made its ‘appearance. At preset, there are about 100 Mizo dialect daily newspapers with sround 200 full-time journalists. ‘Newslink’, “Mizoram Post’ and “Highlander” sce the thee prominent English dailies of the sate, “Vanglain’, started in 1978, is now the largest circulated daily newspaper, ‘Lelie’, an entertainment-oriented magazine it the largest circulated woekly magazine and “Lengzem’ is the largest circulated monthly magazine. Many goverament ‘organizations also publish th journals like “risen” (by Directorate of Heath Services), “Thu leh Hia” (mouthpiece of Mizo Academy ofLetters) and Meiohher" (byMizo Adult Education Wing) (Pandey, 2013.p. 141), PresentStatus ‘As per the report of Registrar of [Newspapers for India (RNID), there are 184 total registered newspapers and other periodicals in Mizoram. Among these, there are 44 dailies, 7 i-wecklies, 47 weeklies, Shi-weeklics, 6 frtightles, 55 rmontlie, 8 bi-montlis, § quartets, three yearly publications and one is published half-yearly. Mest of the newspapers are published in Mizo language that number 150, The second highest are bilingual publications numbering 14, followed by English newspapers, 8 in umber, Thre ar also four multilingual newspapers. Interestingly, two Assamese rewspapers are also published in Mizoram. In dation, two newspapers are published in Nepali, two in other languages, one in Hindi and one in Lushai language. On the ‘other hand the Directorate of formation and Public Relations of the State has informed the researcher that st present there are 90 newspapers, 5 weeklies and 16 monthly periodicals inthe Stat, ‘As mentioned, these 184 newspapers ste published and registered ander RNI in diffrent years of publication, There 1s