Censorship of Press Act 1799
Topic: Print Culture and the Modern World · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The Censorship of Press Act of 1799 was a measure brought in by Governor-General Lord Wellesley. The Company was then at war with France and feared that newspapers might help the enemy. The Act put the press in India under strict government control. It marked the start of formal press censorship in British India. Before this, the Company had cared little about censorship.
Example
Under the 1799 rules, every newspaper had to print the names of its printer, editor and owner. It also had to send all its material to the government's Secretary for checking before printing. This is called pre-censorship.
Don't confuse with
- Vernacular Press Act (1878): this later law targeted only papers in Indian languages, after 1857. The 1799 Act applied to all newspapers and was a wartime measure.
Related concepts
- Licensing Regulations 1823
- Press Act of 1835
- Licensing Act 1857
- Hindu Patriot
- Som Prakash
- Press and Registration of Books Act 1867
- Amrita Bazar Patrika
- Vernacular Press Act
- The Hindu
- Swadesamitran