''The Free Press Journal'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper that was established in 1928 by
Swaminathan Sadanand
Swaminathan Sadanand (1900–1953) was an Indian journalist.
In 1927 Sadanand started the Free Press of India, Free Press of India Agency, which was the first news agency owned and managed by Indians.
In 1930 Sadanand became founder editor ...
, who also acted as its first editor. First produced to complement a news agency, the
Free Press of India
Free Press of India was an Indian nationalist-supporting news agency founded in the 1920s by Swaminathan Sadanand, during the period of the British Raj. It was the first news agency owned and managed by Indians. Beset by dubious business acumen ...
, it was a supporter of the
Independence movement. It is published in
Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...
, India.
History
The founder editor was Swaminathan Sadanand.
It was founded in 1928 to support Free Press of India, a news agency that dispatched "nationalist" news to its subscribers.
In the colonial context, Colaco describes it as "an independent newspaper supporting nationalist causes". She quotes Lakshmi as saying that "The nationalist press marched along with the freedom fighters".
It played a significant role in mobilising sympathetic public opinion during the independence movement.
Notable former employees
Among its founders was
Stalin Srinivasan who founded ''
Manikkodi'' in 1932.
Bal Thackeray worked as a cartoonist for the newspaper until being removed from the job. Thackeray then founded
Marmik
''Marmik'' (Marathi: मार्मिक ''Mārmik'') meaning: traight from the heart/A silent word that goes directly to the Heart is an Indian weekly published by the Shiv Sena from Mumbai, until publication of its daily ''Saamana'' it was S ...
.
According to Atkins he was removed "after a political dispute over Thackeray's attacks on southern Indian immigration into Bombay"
Notable cartoonist
R. K. Laxman joined The Free Press Journal as a twenty-year-old. He was Thackeray's colleague. Three years into the job, he was asked by his proprietor not to make fun at communists, Laxman left and joined ''