Deccan Herald is an Indian English-language daily newspaper published from the Indian state of Karnataka. It was founded by businessman K. N. Guruswamy and launched on 17 June 1948. It is published by The Printers Mysore, a privately held company owned by the Nettakallappa family, heirs of Guruswamy. It has seven editions printed from Bengaluru, Hubballi, Davanagere, Hosapete, Mysuru, Mangaluru, and Kalaburagi.

History and background

Deccan Herald was launched on 17 June 1948. Its founder, K. N. Guruswamy, in search of a suitable location for a news publishing business, purchased a bar and restaurant called Funnel's, that was owned by an Irish couple, in March 1948. Despite having no experience in the newspaper industry, Guruswamy, along with his close aides and well wishers, decided to launch two newspapers from Bangalore since there was no such title at the time.

K. N. Guruswamy (1901–1990) was the eldest son of a prominent businessman of Ballari (Bellary), who later shifted to Bangalore, and the family belonged to the Ediga community, which was traditionally involved in toddy tapping. They won excise contracts and expanded their business across (then known as Mysore, now Karnataka). Bangalore was then under the Kingdom of Mysore, ruled by the Wadiyar dynasty, and lacked an English newspaper in those times. The then Diwan of Mysore, Arcot Ramasamy Mudaliar, is believed to have been instrumental in convincing Guruswamy to start an English-language daily and he launched the firm The Printers (Mysore) Pvt Ltd.

In August 2019, the Deccan Herald relaunched its newspaper with a "revamped look to attract younger readers." Edinburgh-based Palmer Watson Words and Pictures design agency Deccan Herald has revamped its look. The English daily has got a new masthead in aqua blue, a colour to attract younger audience who need coaxing to pick up a newspaper. It added a new business section on Mondays, a Sunday opinion page called The Prism, and an entertainment section Showtime on Saturdays focussing on showbiz and streaming platforms, besides creating a Travel & Living supplement on Tuesdays. IRS 2013 termed the Deccan Herald as the eighth largest English-language daily in India, average issue readership-wise. The newspaper's average issue readership stands at 4,58,000, including 3,38,000 in Bangalore city. The story was about a young boy named Mohammad who died by suicide due to the travails of his family suffering from poverty. It was a fictional story originally written by PKN Namboodri a decade earlier in Malayalam language and had nothing to do with the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It created no turmoil when first published in the Kannada language. However, Muslims in the city of Bengaluru took that story as a reference to their prophet and protested violently. Marchers went on a rampage and attacked police personnel in the city of Bengaluru, Mysore, and Mandya. Curfew was declared in Bengaluru and its suburban areas. The newspaper's editor, who happened to be its publisher, was arrested for "fomenting enmity between two communities and writing articles in a manner prejudicial to public peace." However, he was soon released on bail. At least 16 people died, primarily to police gunfire, and over 175 arrests were made.

Notable employees and associates (past and present)

  • K.N. Guruswamy, (1901–1990), founder and former chairman
  • Pothan Joseph, Founding Editor, best known for his column Over a Cup of Tea
  • Rajan Bala, former sports editor
  • Suresh Menon, former reporter
  • Ajit Bhattacharjea, former editorial adviser and columnist
  • Kuldip Nayar, columnist and director on the board
  • M J Akbar, former columnist
  • B V Ramamurthy, former cartoonist

References

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