Malayala Manorama winds up
125th anniversary celebrations
One-year-long celebrations of Malayala Manorana’s 125th anniversary wrapped up
recently with a historic closing ceremony graced by prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh and other prominent leaders including defense minister AK Antony, information and broadcasting minister Manish Tewari and distinguished luminaries from social, media and cultural fields who offered good wishes to the landmark achievement of the country’s one of the largest-circulated dailies.
Prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh lights a lamp to mark Malayala Manorama's
quasquicentennial valedictory function.
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In his inaugural address at the landmark closing ceremony of Malayala Manorama’s 125th anniversary celebrations organised at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi, prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh remarked, “There have been some deviations in the activities of media in the country during the course of their growth and they themselves should find out a way to move forward by correcting such things.” He continued to point out that Malayala Manorama is a shining example of responsible journalism and media which can play a leading role in this process.
Dr Manmohan Singh further asserted that Malayala Manorama, through creative and progressive journalism, gave great contributions to the growth of the country and along with its success and the faith reposed in it by Malayalis. “Malayala Manorama was born out of great idealism. Its founders were deeply committed to fighting social injustice and upholding human rights,” Dr Singh lauded. AK Antony said media played a big role in making government establishments transparent by asking questions continuously for the people. He further explicated that Malayala Manorama has been an institution that always worked at the forefront for disregarded sections of the society. Also, the minister pointed out that regional media have infinite possibilities to achieve more growth in the country. Manish Tewari highlighted the importance of regional language media which will continue to rise in the coming years. “Hindi and vernacular media comprise 89 percent of the total readership in India,” he added.
Another 100 years
In his keynote address at the auspicious occasion, Mammen Mathew, chief editor, Malayala Manorama asserted, “I believe in my father’s prophecy: newsprint may die, but newspaper will not. He also recollected the words of former chief editor KM Mathew delivered when the centenary celebrations of the newspaper were held at the same venue. He quoted his father who once said in the presence of then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi that newspapers were safe for another 100 years.
“Then there were no private TV channels in India. Nobody in the country had heard of internet. Today we are in the world of smart phones and tablets. But I believe in my father’s prophecy. said Mammen adding “Once Swami Vivekananda called Kerala a madhouse. At that time there were many people in Kerala with different types of madness. One of them argued that the untouchables should be given school education. He was Kandathil Varghese Mappillai, the founding chief editor of Malayala Manorama. He pointed out this thing in the first editorial of Manorama. Only a person with divine madness could start a newspaper at that time.”
Well wishers
In addition to the horde of attendees from social, cultural and political fields, some noted media personalities who showered wishes to Malayala Manorama family on the momentous occasion included MK Razdan, chief editor, Press Trust of India; Raj Chenkappa, editor, The Tribune; Prakash Dube, editor, Dainik Bhaskar; I Venkat, editor, Eenadu; Neeraj Bajpai, editor, UNI; Sanjay Gupta, editor, Dainik Jagran and eminent columnists TVR Shenoy, Kuldip Nayar among others. From its humble beginnings in 1888, Malayala Manorama has become one of the most widely-circulated regional dailies with a circulation of about 2.1 million copies and is published from 16 centres in India and two centres overseas.
In a concluding note at the closure of the event, Mammen Mathew conveyed a message on the everlasting future of newspapers. He heralded, “As long as newspapers maintain trust, identity, inspirational quality and digitalisation, they have a safe future.” Acknowledging Dr Manmohan Singh’s precious presence, Mammen Mathew handed over a memento on behalf of Malayala Manorama to the prime minister. Executive editor Jacob Mathew of Malayala Manorama delivered the vote of thanks, especially mentioning poet ONV Kurup who penned the special jubilee prayer recited at the function by noted musicians L Subramaniam and Kavita Krishnamurthy.
