Journalism

The Crescent, first Indian-owned newspaper in Madras

The Crescent, launched by Gazulu Lakshminarasu Chetty, was the Madras Presidency's first newspaper under Indian ownership.

The Madras Mail newspaper founded

Charles Lawson and Henry Cornish started The Madras Mail, an English-language evening daily that was published until 1981.

The Hindu newspaper founded

Founded in Madras as a weekly, The Hindu was started by the Triplicane Six, among them G. Subramania Iyer and M. Veeraraghavachariar.

Swadesamitran Tamil newspaper launched

G. Subramania Iyer started Swadesamitran, the first Tamil newspaper owned and run by Indians, in Madras.

Birth of poet Subramania Bharati

Subramania Bharati, a pioneer of modern Tamil poetry and a nationalist journalist, was born at Ettayapuram.

Birth of Subramania Siva

Subramania Siva, independence activist, writer and associate of V. O. Chidambaram Pillai, was born at Batlagundu.

The Hindu becomes a daily newspaper

The Hindu, founded as a weekly in 1878 by the 'Triplicane Six', began publishing daily in 1889.

Rettamalai Srinivasan founds the Paraiyar Mahajana Sabha

Rettamalai Srinivasan set up the Paraiyar Mahajana Sabha, an early Dalit body, and launched the Tamil paper Paraiyan in 1893.

Rettamalai Srinivasan launches the Paraiyan newspaper

Dalit leader Rettamalai Srinivasan started the Tamil paper Paraiyan in October 1893 to speak for the Paraiyar community.

Brahmavadin journal launched in Madras

Brahmavadin, a journal of Vedanta, was launched by Alasinga Perumal and fellow Madras followers of Swami Vivekananda.

Prabuddha Bharata journal founded in Madras

Started in Madras in July 1896 on Swami Vivekananda's encouragement, Prabuddha Bharata was an English-language journal of the Ramakrishna movement.

Kasturi Ranga Iyengar acquires The Hindu

S. Kasturi Ranga Iyengar bought The Hindu in 1905; it has remained with his family since.

Iyothee Thass launches Oru Paisa Tamizhan

Iyothee Thass launched the Tamil weekly Oru Paisa Tamizhan, an anti-caste journal that later became The Tamilan.

Subramania Bharati goes into exile in Pondicherry

Facing an arrest warrant, the poet and journalist Subramania Bharati moved to French-ruled Pondicherry, where he lived for about ten years.

Annie Besant launches the Home Rule League at Adyar

Annie Besant founded the All India Home Rule League at Adyar, Madras, to campaign for self-government within the British Empire.

Non-Brahmin Manifesto published

The new non-Brahmin federation issued a manifesto criticising Brahmin dominance in public services and politics, drawing sharp criticism from The Hindu.

Thiru. Vi. Ka. launches Navasakthi

Tamil scholar and labour leader Thiru. V. Kalyanasundaram started the Tamil weekly Navasakthi.

Death of Subramania Bharati

The poet and nationalist Subramania Bharati died in Madras, leaving a body of work central to modern Tamil literature.

Periyar launches Kudi Arasu

E. V. Ramasamy began publishing the Tamil weekly Kudi Arasu, which became the main voice of the Self-Respect Movement.

Ananda Vikatan launched

Ananda Vikatan started life as a Tamil monthly, and S. S. Vasan acquired and relaunched it in 1928.

Kudi Arasu editorial on Bhagat Singh's execution

Writing in Kudi Arasu, Periyar faulted Gandhi over Bhagat Singh's execution, a sign of the journal's increasingly leftist stance.

The Indian Express founded in Madras

P. Varadarajulu Naidu started the English daily The Indian Express in Madras; it was later taken over by Ramnath Goenka.

Manikkodi literary weekly launched

Launched in Madras, the Tamil literary weekly Manikkodi gave modern Tamil short fiction a platform.

Dinamani launched

The Tamil daily Dinamani published its first edition on 11 September; it later became part of the Indian Express group.

Viduthalai newspaper launched

Viduthalai began as a Justice Party bi-weekly and became a daily under Periyar in 1937.

S. S. Vasan founds Gemini Studios

S. S. Vasan acquired a studio in Madras and established Gemini Studios, which became one of India's major film studios.

Kalki magazine launched

Writer R. Krishnamurthy (Kalki) and T. Sadasivam launched the Tamil weekly Kalki, which serialised popular historical novels.

Karunanidhi starts Murasoli at Tiruvarur

An 18-year-old M. Karunanidhi started Murasoli at Tiruvarur as handwritten notices; it later became the DMK's newspaper.

Daily Thanthi founded at Madurai

S. P. Adithanar founded the Tamil daily Dina Thanthi in Madurai; it became the largest-circulating Tamil newspaper.

Kalki begins Sivagamiyin Sapatham

Kalki Krishnamurthy began serialising Sivagamiyin Sapatham, a historical novel set in the Pallava period.

Lakshmikanthan murder case

Film stars M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar and N. S. Krishnan were convicted in the murder of journalist C. N. Lakshmikanthan, later freed on appeal.

Death of writer Kalki Krishnamurthy

Kalki R. Krishnamurthy, journalist and author of popular Tamil historical novels, died in Madras.

Television arrives in Madras with Doordarshan Kendra

Doordarshan began television broadcasts from Madras, the first TV station in South India.

Investigative magazine Nakkheeran launched

The Tamil biweekly Nakkheeran, founded and edited by Nakkheeran Gopal, published its first issue.

Sun TV launched

Kalanithi Maran launched Sun TV, a Tamil general entertainment channel that grew into the Sun TV Network.

Raj TV launched

Raj TV, a Tamil general entertainment channel based in Chennai, was launched, adding to the new private satellite channels in the state.

Jaya TV launched

Jaya TV, a Tamil satellite channel founded by AIADMK leader J. Jayalalithaa, was launched in Chennai.

Attack on the Dinakaran office in Madurai

After Dinakaran ran a survey on Karunanidhi's political heir, its Madurai office was firebombed and three people were killed.

Self-immolation of K. Muthukumar

Journalist K. Muthukumar set himself on fire in Chennai in protest against the killing of Tamil civilians in the Sri Lankan war.