Ramananda Chatterjee

Ramananda Chatterjee (1865 - 1943) was founder, editor and owner of the Calcutta based magazine, the "Modern Review".

He was educated at St. Xavier's College, Calcutta and has been described as the father of Indian journalism.

He gave a talk on March 10, 1934 to a group of young students summarising his view of the role of newspapering: He spoke of the gathering of news, ideas and facts drawn from by thoughtful people from the world over; it needs to be put down in a language that a person in the street can understand; the faithful coverage of public opinion must be matched by the boldness to challenge it should that opinion not be pointing in the right direction. A good knowledge of politics and governance is required as well as the history of the rise and fall of nations, economics, social sciences and even insurance. Other issues are the worldwide struggles of labour, the trials that beset women and varying religious beliefs. These need to be properly displayed on the pages with the postings of special correspondents, book reviews, letters and pictures.