Report of the Native Newspapers
Also called: Native Newspaper Reports · Topic: Studying Indian History: Sources, Dating and Historiography · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 1 "Colonialism and the Countryside"
Meaning
The Report of the Native Newspapers was a set of official weekly summaries made for the colonial government in British India. Officials translated into English the main points of articles printed in Indian-language and Indian-owned newspapers. The government used them to watch what Indians were thinking and to spot anger against British rule early. Today historians use them as a source on public opinion and on events that Indian papers reported in the 19th century.
Example
When the Deccan riots broke out in 1875, Indian-language papers in the Bombay Presidency reported them. Historians studying peasant anger against moneylenders can read how this news was told through the translated extracts in these reports.
Don't confuse with
- Official commission reports (such as the Deccan Riots Commission report): these were written by the government to explain an event. The Native Newspaper Reports only collected and translated what Indian papers had written.
Related concepts
- Sources of history
- Archaeology
- Numismatics
- Archaeo-botany
- Underwater archaeology
- Literary sources
- Oral tradition
- Hagiography
- Kalhana
- Rajatarangini