Mangalore:

The department of mass communication and journalism in Alva’s Degree College, Moodabidri, has a collection of around 4,500 old newspapers and magazines of various Indian languages, and also foreign newspapers.

The collection is a matter of pride for a region that saw Herman Mogling start the first Kannada newspaper ‘Mangalooru Samachara’ in 1843. Of the 4,500 journals, most are Kannada newspapers. There are some rare copies of Kannada newspapers on display like Nava Chethana, Kranthi Deepa, Mungaru and others published in 1970s.

For the past two years, this enormous and diverse collection of newspapers and magazines has been on display at the college. The old journals are preserved in special covers and exhibited in huge showcases to help students learn the history of journalism. This has been possible due to the efforts of Hareesh K Adhur, a lecturer of the department of mass communication and journalism, who has collected these newspapers by travelling to different places across the country.

“I have been collecting old newspapers since I was a student. I collected around 3,000 newspapers and a few years ago, a friend of mine gave me nearly 1,500 different newspapers. This collection of newspapers has been exhibited for students mainly because journalism is not a theoretical subject.”

Hareesh hopes the collection will help students understand how news was reported and presented in the earlier years, and compare it with the present day. The exhibition is open to all and entry is free.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / Home> City> Mangalore / TNN / August 16th, 2012