On its anniversary each February, the evening newspaper Star of Mysore prints the same editorial it has published on each of its previous 43 anniversaries. Likewise, on Christmas, The Washington Post prints a cartoon by its legendary cartoonist Herb Block aka Herblock. This cartoon was first printed in 1952.
Tag Archives: Star of Mysore
What you (really) need to know today: Jubilant Generics, the “single-source” of 82% COVID cases in Mysore that went below the media radar, because, maybe, it wasn’t in Delhi, or the Tablighi Jamaat
For over 50 days now, R. Sukumar, the editor of the Delhi newspaper Hindustan Times, has written a daily wrap titled ‘COVID-19: What you need to know today‘. But three words have never appeared in it: Jubilant Generics, Nanjangud. Jubilant Generics, is a subsidiary of Jubilant Life Sciences, a pharmaceutical company founded by Shyam S.…
J-POD || A podcast on journalism || Why my mother would not be celebrating the suspension of publication of ‘Star of Mysore’ despite its Islamophobic editorial
J-POD || A podcast on journalism || Why Sharada Viswanath (and hundreds of mothers) would not have celebrated the temporary suspension of publication of India’s most successful English evening newspaper ‘Star of Mysore‘ in #Coronavirus season. Also read: Star of Mysore suspends publication
India’s most successful English evening newspaper ‘Star of Mysore’ suspends publication for the first time in 43 years due to #Coronavirus lockdowm
The 21-day lockdown imposed by the Narendra Modi government on March 25 to combat the #Coronavirus pandemic had an immediate impact on an already beleaguered print media which suddenly found advertising and circulation revenues plummet. Now, the 15-day extension of that 21-day lockdown, which was to end on April 15, has seen India’s most successful…
A half-century in the service of the Paper Tigers
The evening newspaper Star of Mysore profiles M.R. Subramanya, popularly called by his admirers as “Paper Subbanna“, who has just completed 50 years as a newspaper distributor in Mysore. Subbanna entered newspaper distribution in 1963 after unsuccessfully launching Chitralaya, a tabloid devoted to the Kannada film industry in Bangalore. “I am happy with my profession and…
An Editor reveals his friendship with a politician
The relationship between politicians and journalists is usually an after-dark activity in India, with neither participant ready or willing to put the other’s involvement on the record. Wise heads in politics will counsel newcomers against getting too close to journalists, because, well, you never know when the snake could discover its fangs. Grey beards in…
Is ‘corrupt, corporate media’ scared of AAP?
After hailing the Aam Aadmi Party’s breathtaking rise to power, in fact after paving the way for it with its somewhat uncritical coverage in its Team Anna avatar, much of the mainstream turned against Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal after he sat on a protest at a public square this week. In fact, The Times…
Tarun Tejpal & the tale of the poor shepherd-boy
The elevator implosion of Tarun J. Tejpal and the plight of Tehelka as a result have been discussed ad nauseam after the first emails were leaked on 20 November. But the commentary, outrage and sympathy have come from the usual set of bold-face colleagues, rivals, friends, socialites, feminists and lawyers, among others. But how is…
When a freelance writer cannot meet an Editor
Three weeks ago, V. Gangadhar (in picture), the well-known Bombay satirist who created the character Trishanku, wrote a diary in Outlook* magazine, in which he lamented his inability to meet K.B. Ganapathy, the erudite editor of India’s most successful English evening newspaper, Star of Mysore, on a visit to the southern city. Gangadhar wrote: I…
And so, India’s three best cartoonists are…
It isn’t often that Indian cartoonists talk about their craft—or their colleagues and compatriots. There is, for instance, a famous incident of the doyen of Indian cartooning, R.K. Laxman, being asked in the course of an interview with The Illustrated Weekly of India, about a younger cartoonist then working for the Indian Express. “Ravi Shankar?…
How a small newspaper registered its protest
Stories of newspapers running blank editorials and news columns during the censorship era of the Emergency in the mid-1970s are legion. But in this day and age, when space is calculated in square centimetres? Star of Mysore, the 35-year-old evening newspaper from Mysore, ran this front-page on March 3 to protest the murderous assault on…
M.R. SHIVANNA, a true 24/7 journalist, is dead
sans serif records with regret the passing away of M.R. SHIVANNA, an unsung hero of Indian journalism, in Mysore on Saturday. He was 55, and is survived by his wife and daughter. For 30 years and more, Shivanna slogged away in remarkable obscurity and was one of the pillars on which stands India’s most successful…
The 25-paise mag where R.K. Laxman began
R.K. Laxman may have made his name after a lifetime at The Times of India, but it was for a small Kannada humour monthly called Koravanji that the Mysore-born cartoonist drew his first works. The magazine had been inspired by the British satirical magazine Punch. The first issue saw the light of day, today, 70…
Who really named All India Radio as Akashvani?
PALINI R. SWAMY writes: Mysore’s preminent position in the setting up and christening of All India Radio as “Akashvani” has gone uncontested for well over half a century. Now, in the 75th year of AIR, an unlikely challenger has emerged from 300 km away. A 70-year-old woman has stood up in Udupi to assert that…
A song for an unsung hero: C.P. Chinnappa
The passing away of journalists and editors barely gets a mention in Indian media outlets these days, not even in their former or current places of work, under the rather specious and cynical belief that journalists and editors should report the news, not make it. It’s even worse, in the case of faceless non-journalists, like…
An oxymoronic pursuit called Spiritual Journalism
Shooting the messenger is the world’s favourite hobby. So, the media is roundly berated by media consumers as the harbinger of bad news. Media personnel have been termed by critics as the “nattering nabobs of negativism“. We suck the warm, positive air out of this wonderful world the rest of humankind inhabits. We separate the…
9 tips from a (super-successful) small paper editor
As the Indian media gets larger and more corporatised, the voice of the small newspaper editor (and owner) is slowly but surely getting snuffed out. It’s almost as if the trials and tribulations of the editors (and owners) of big papers, magazines and TV stations are the only ones that matter. Star of Mysore, published…
IJR 