Indian Press Played Key Role in Freedom Struggle, scholar finds

Dr Sr. Patricia Michelle Mathias, assistant professor at NISCORT traces how newspapers and journals served as a “weapon that silently and non-violently stoked the fire of freedom”

NEW DELHI (Indian Catholic News) — In a detailed historical analysis published August in the NISCORT Journal of Media, Communications and Research, Dr Sr. Patricia Michelle Mathias argues that the Indian press played a “stalwart role in setting afire the demand for self-rule and freedom from British tyrannical rule and colonialism.”

NISCORT (National Institute of Social Communications, Research and Training) is a professional Media College for Journalism and Mass Communication Studies, founded and owned by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI).

Mathias’ essay, titled “The Contribution of the Press in the Freedom Struggle of India”, offers a sweeping overview of how newspapers, weeklies and journals evolved as channels of dissent from the late 18th century through to independence.

Mathias, an assistant professor at NISCORT, writes that “the press was ablaze with the demand for freedom. She traces early newspaper activity back to the establishment of print in India. For example, she notes that the first English newspaper in India was the Bengal Gazette (also known as the Calcutta General Advertiser) started by James Augustus Hicky in January 1780.

In discussing the vernacular press, Mathias argues that it “actually hit the Britishers hard as it raised the slogan of the Indian freedoms in the minds of the simple people across India.”

The essay documents the intensification of press activity in the 20th century, noting that from 1900 to 1947 newspapers “emerged across the country raising the clarion call to join in the freedom movements and drive the colonisers out of the country.”

According to Mathias, colonial authorities responded with legislation including the Press Act 1910, the Newspaper (Incitement to Offences) Act 1908 and the Press Regulation Act 1942, under which “within a few years over 350 printing presses were punished with penalization and almost 300 newspapers were asked for security deposits.”

In her conclusion, Mathias observes that the “pen is mightier than the sword” — the press was indeed “a weapon that silently and non-violently stoked the fire of freedom all across India and the British Government grew wary of its reach and power.”

The article emphasises that beyond serving as a conduit of nationalist thought, the press helped build public consciousness, mobilise mass participation and expose colonial injustices — often at great risk to editors and publishers. Mathias’s historical study underscores how journalism provided not just commentary, but action in the service of independence.

Published in the August 2025 issue (Volume 1, Issue 1) of the NISCORT journal, the work offers both a national and regional perspective, illuminating how newspapers across different languages and regions contributed to India’s freedom struggle.