October 2nd is Mahatma Gandhi’s 152nd birth anniversary. While Indians know him as a towering freedom fighter, the world knows him as a social reformer and politician. However, not many knows about a much less talked part of his life; the life of Mahatma Gandhi, the journalist.
This journey also began in South Africa with him becoming the South African correspondent of The Voice of India, a newspaper started by Dadabhai Naoroji. During the second Boer war from 1899 to 1902, Mahatma Gandhi was a war correspondent. While in South Africa, he saw the racial injustice, war and violence. Those experiences shaped his view on journalism.
Back then, Gandhi stated, “One of the objectives of a newspaper is to understand the popular feeling and give expression to it. Another to arouse among people certain desirable sentiments and the third is to express fearlessly popular defects.” In 1903, Mahatma Gandhi published his own newspaper, the Indian Opinion, his mission was simple; not to make money or fame but to bring change.
In 1925, Gandhi explained his decision stating, “I have taken up journalism, not for its sake, but merely as an aid to what I have conceived to be my mission in life. My mission is to teach by example and present under severe restraint the use of the matchless weapon of Satyagraha.” He himself never published advertisements or sensationalised news. He believed in honest and measured reporting, which is why he despised advertisements. He never saw newspaper as a source of income, he saw them as a means to educate people.
