Free Press was a short-lived but well-attempted and widely circulated, monthly magazine in Malayalam language published from Delhi between 2003 and 2006. At 23, Vinod K. Jose became one of the youngest editors-in-chief of any current affairs registered magazine in India when he started Free Press. [1] Free Press was the first publication to have initiated the concept of citizen journalism in Kerala.
Free Press was founded by Vinod Jose, while working as a foreign correspondent in South Asia for the United States–based Pacifica Radio. Funding itself on readers' contribution, Free Press exhibited the idealism of a group of twenty young journalists, who came together to publish an investigative, non-partisan monthly in Malayalam published from Delhi, targeting the Malayalis in Kerala and the Malayali diaspora in other Indian states and abroad. Free Press was a registered magazine with the Registrar of Newspapers for India (RNI) and sold 55,000 copies every month. Without spending any money on advertisement, Free Press gained the circulation through word-of-mouth campaign and conducting smaller events in Kerala.
Free Press investigations included: Reliance corporation and its contribution to India's black economy, [2] fake-encounter epidemic by Delhi Police, Intel meddling with the school curriculum in Kerala, industrialists "buying" rivers in Kerala, sex scandal of a Muslim League minister in Kerala. And the result was quick. Its office was raided. [3] The editor was interrogated. [4] Reporters were harassed and the distribution system was destroyed. [2] Printing presses in Delhi were forced to back off. [5] Free Press in 2005 was forced out of newsstands. [2]
In May 2006, Vinod K. Jose, editor-in-chief; V.H. Nishad, literary editor; V.M. Shaijith, the political editor declared in a public announcement that the magazine could not sustain itself anymore and declared its closure.
Malayalam is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was designated a "Classical Language of India" in 2013, citing its 2,500 years of continuous usage. Malayalam has official language status in Kerala, Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé), and is also the primary spoken language of Lakshadweep. Malayalam is spoken by 35 million people in India. Malayalam is also spoken by linguistic minorities in the neighbouring states; with a significant number of speakers in the Kodagu and Dakshina Kannada districts of Karnataka, and Kanyakumari, Coimbatore and Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu. It is also spoken by the Malayali Diaspora worldwide, especially in the Persian Gulf countries, due to the large populations of Malayali expatriates there. They are a significant population in each city in India including Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad etc.
K. Satchidanandan is an Indian poet and critic, writing in Malayalam and English. A pioneer of modern poetry in Malayalam, a bilingual literary critic, playwright, editor, columnist and translator, he is the former editor of Indian Literature journal and the former secretary of Sahitya Akademi. He is also social advocate for secular anti-caste views, supporting causes like environment, human rights and free software and is a well known speaker on issues concerning contemporary Indian literature. He is the festival director of Kerala Literature Festival.
Malayalam cinema is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Malayalam language, which is widely spoken in the state of Kerala. Malayalam cinema includes the commercial film industry, sometimes known as Mollywood, as well as independent cinema made in Malayalam.
The Malayali people are a Dravidian ethnolinguistic group originating from the present-day state of Kerala & Union Territory of Lakshadweep in India, occupying its southwestern Malabar coast. They form the majority of the population in Kerala and Lakshadweep. They are predominantly native speakers of the Malayalam language, one of the six classical languages of India. The state of Kerala was created in 1956 through the States Reorganisation Act. Prior to that, since the 1800s existed the Kingdom of Travancore, the Kingdom of Cochin, Malabar District, and South Canara of the British India. The Malabar District was annexed by the British through the Third Mysore War (1790–92) from Tipu Sultan. Before that, the Malabar District was under various kingdoms including the Zamorins of Calicut, Kingdom of Tanur, Arakkal kingdom, Kolathunadu, Valluvanad, and Palakkad Rajas.
Malayalam journalism encompasses journalism published and broadcast in the Malayalam language. Modern Malayalam journalism can be traced to the publication of the Raajyasamaachaaram and the Pashchimodhayam under the direction of Hermann Gundert in June 1847. Kerala has the highest media exposure in India with newspapers publishing in nine languages, mainly English and Malayalam.
Madhyamam is a Malayalam-language newspaper published in Kerala, India, since 1987. It was founded by Ideal Publications Trust run by the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind wing in Kerala. It has nine editions in India and its Persian Gulf edition Gulf Madhyamam has nine in the Middle East.
Sugathakumari was an Indian poet and activist, who was at the forefront of environmental and feminist movements in Kerala, India.
Vinod K. Jose, or Vinod Kizhakkeparambil Joseph, is a journalist, editor, and magazine founder from India. In 2009, Jose was hired by Delhi Press to re-launch the company's 70-year-old title The Caravan, which was discontinued in 1988. He was the executive editor of The Caravan from 2009 to 2023, which calls itself "India's only narrative journalism magazine" and is published in the English-language in New Delhi. Earlier, he was the founding editor of the Malayalam-language publication Free Press. Jose's contributions to Indian journalism are in the area of narrative or literary journalism, similar to the style of Granta, The New Yorker, The Atlantic and Mother Jones. He has won several national and international awards for his work. Jose also faces ten sedition cases for his journalism. Since he left The Caravan, Jose has been working on an investigative book on how political and economic power works in India.
K. Ramakrishna Pillai (1878–1916) was an Indian nationalist writer, journalist, editor, and political activist. He edited Swadeshabhimani, the newspaper which became a potent weapon against the rule of the British and the erstwhile princely state of Travancore and a tool for social transformation. His criticism of the Diwan of Travancore, P. Rajagopalachari and the Maharajah led to the eventual confiscation of the newspaper. Ramakrishna Pillai was arrested and exiled from Travancore in 1910. Vrithantha Pathra Pravarthanam (1912) and Karl Marx (1912) are among his most noted works in Malayalam, Vrithantha Pathra pravarthanam being the first book on journalism in Malayalam and Karl Marx, the first ever biography of Karl Marx in any Indian language. But it has been alleged that he plagiarized the biography from an essay, "Karl Marx: A Modern Rishi", by Lala Hardayal, published in 1912 March issue of the Modern Review, published from Kolkata.
Thirunalloor Karunakaran was a poet, scholar, teacher and leftist intellectual of Kerala, India.
V. K. Madhavan Kutty was a journalist from the state of Kerala, India. He was long associated with the Mathrubhumi newspaper, a Malayalam daily based out of Kozhikode. He was stationed at New Delhi as Chief of Bureau for most of his career. He was well known among the journalism circles in the capital owing to his astute professionalism and efficiency. He retired as the editor of Mathrubhumi after serving for 40 years. He was also one of the founding directors of the Malayalam satellite channel Asianet. Madhavankutty survived the crash of Indian Airlines Flight 440 on May 31, 1973, which killed Union Minister Mohan Kumaramangalam and several others.
The Caravan is an Indian English-language, long-form narrative journalism magazine covering politics and culture.
Mathrubhumi Azhchappathippu is an Indian general interest weekly magazine published by the Mathrubhumi Printing and Publishing Company in Kozhikode. The Malayalam language magazine started publishing on 18 January 1932.
Jayakeralam was a Malayalam–language weekly literary magazine published from Madras. It was established by C. R. Krishna Pillai in 1947 in order to encourage Malayalam writers both in Madras and Kerala, and to vocalise the "special needs" of the Malayali people. Jayakeralam was printed from Janatha Printing Press, also set up by Pillai in Madras. C. K. Appukutty Guptan was the editor of the magazine. Some of the most outstanding works of Malayalam literature were first published serially in this prestige periodical. Prominent writers such as P. Bhaskaran, Pavanan etc. had worked in the editorial board of Jayakeralam. It was one of the most popular literary magazines in Malayalam for three decades, but the publishers discontinued it in the 1990s.
Poompatta was a Malayalam children's magazine which started publishing in 1964. It was initially published by P. A. Warrier and later by Sithara Publications, Pai and Company (PAICO), Manorajyam Publications and Suryaprabha Publications. Poompatta under PAICO was the first Malayalam children's publisher to syndicate comics produced by India Book House and publish Amar Chitra Katha in Malayalam.
Vivekodayam is a Malayalam literary journal established in 1904 to serve as a voice of the underprivileged communities in the Indian state of Kerala. It was founded by Kumaran Asan, a prominent poet of malayalam literature, social reformer, disciple of Narayana Guru and founder-secretary of the associated SNDP Yogam, who was inspired by the teachings of Swami Vivekananda.
Jayakumari Devika is a Malayali historian, feminist, social critic and academic from Kerala. She currently researches and teaches at the Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram as a Professor. She has authored several books and articles on gender relations in early Kerala society. She is bilingual and has translated both fiction and non-fiction books between Malayalam and English. She also writes on gender, politics, social reforms and development in Kerala on publications like Kafila, Economic and Political Weekly and The Wire.
N. Prabhakaran is a noted short story writer, novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, educationist, editor and columnist in Malayalam. He won the 2022 Kerala Sahitya Akademi Fellowship. The eldest of the five children born to N Kunhambu and A Kalliani, Prabhakaran was born at Parassinikkadavu in Kannur district of Kerala on 30 December 1952. He spent his childhood days at Madayi. Prabhakaran studied at Madayi L P School, Govt. High School, Madayi, Payyannur College and Government Brennen College, Thalassery. He served as a lecturer at the Dept. of Malayalam of Lekshmipuram college of Arts and Science, Neyyoor, Kanyakumari District, Tamil Nadu, University College, Thiruvananthapuram, CKG Memorial Govt College, Perambra, and Govt Brennen College, Thalassery, and retired while serving as the Head of the Malayalam Department of Brennen College. The writer also served as a visiting professor of Malayalam at the University of Calicut. Prabhakaran resides at Dharmadam in Thalassery.
Vidyavinodini or Vidya Vinodini was a Malayalam-language monthly literary magazine published from Trichur in the Kingdom of Cochin. It started publication in November 1889 and ceased publication in March 1902.