Malayala Manorama is a daily morning newspaper, in Malayalam language,
published from Kottayam in the state of Kerala, India by Malayala Manorama
Company Limited. It was first published as a weekly on 22 March 1890, and
currently has a readership of over 20 million. The Malayalam title "Manorama"
roughly translates to "entertainer". According to World Association of
Newspapers, as of 2011, it holds a position as the fifth most circulating
newspaper in the world. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations 2013
figures, it is the third largest circulating newspapers in India and
largest circulating newspaper in Kerala. History
Malayala Manorama,is owned by single family, known as the Kandathil. Malayala
Manorama Company was incorporated by Kandathil Varghese Mappillai at Kottayam
on 14 March 1888. The company started with one hundred shares of Rs 100 each.
The investors paid in four equal instalments. With the first instalment,
the company brought a Hopkinson and Cope press, made in London. A local
craftsman, Konthi Achari, was hired to make Malayalam types for the imported
press. Mappillai had worked for a year as
editor of Kerala Mitram, a Malayalam newspaper run by Gujarati businessman
Devji Bhimji, in Cochin. The maharajah of Travancore Moolam Thirunal approved
the logo of the newspaper which was a slight modification of the Travancore
Coat of Arms. First issue of Malayala Manorama
published 22 March 1890, while Kottayam was hosting a popular cattle fair. It
was a four-page weekly newspaper, published on Saturdays. The weekly
newspaper became a bi-weekly in 1901, a tri-weekly on 2 July 1918 and daily on 2
July 1928. In 1938, Travancore state proscribed Malayala Manorama daily.
Later editor K. C. Mammen Mappillai was convicted and imprisoned on charges of
corruption and fraud. Malayala Manorama re-commenced regular publication in
1947. On KC Mammen Mappilla's death, his son
KM Cheriyan took over as the Editor-in-Chief in 1954. Malayala
Manorama was produced in a single edition in the central Kerala town of
Kottayam with a circulation of 28,666 copies.
However, by the late 1950s, Manorama steadily increased circulation and
overtook Mathrubhumi in circulation, the dominant Malayalam daily at the time.
= Expansion to entire Kerala = The struggle between Malayala Manorama
and Mathrubhumi demonstrated the forces that would drive the expansion of Indian
regional newspapers. The contest also illustrated the difficulties if
expansion had to rely on Gutenberg-style printing as with the case of Manorama.
Comparison of circulation Malayala Manorama and Mathrubhumi by Robin
Jeffrey, Western Influence on Malayalam Language and Literature by K. M. George
and Audit Bureau of Circulations 2013) In 1962, Mathrubhoomi launched its
second edition in Kochi. The new edition sent Mathrubumi to a circulation of
170,000 copies by 1964, 19,000 more than its rival, Malayala Manorama. With
Mathrubhoomis circulation rising, it became a compulsion for Manorama to
expand its reach, and consequently, introduce new technology. The
competition set off a keen struggle for more readers, faster equipment and
national advertising from major consumer goods companies [such as Hindustan
Lever]. Manorama launched its printing centre at Calicut, Malabar in 1966 with
a cast-off press from the paper's base at Kottayam and hand-composed type. But
in the run-up to that event, it had installed an offset press at Kottayam
and established a teleprinter line with New Delhi in 1965.
By 1970, it was the leading daily in Kerala. The circulation of the newspaper
rose from around 30,000 to 300,000 by this expansion to Malabar.
= 1980s = K. M. Mathew, who took charge as editor
in 1973, began a series of renovations, just as the Anandabazar Patrika did
Bengal. He brought in a series of consultants in the management [1979],
technical and editorial areas, and accepted their guidance. He conducted
frequent training sessions for Manorama journalists and other employees. The
company restructured their organization in 1980. KM Mathew said that the
decision stemmed from the realisation that the daily had either to become
"fully professional" or "risk decline". Mathew sent his best journalists and
managers to training schools around the world, and imported the most effective
techniques in international journalism and newspaper production, which brought
in a contemporary look and feel to Malayala Manorama. In 1979, a new
printing centre was launched at Cochin and in 1987, the Trivandrum edition was
also launched. By 1998, the circulation of Malayala Manorama was increased to 1
million. In mid-2000s, the daily started units in the Middle East, focusing on
the large Malayalee population in the region. Mathew is credited with the
introduction of the concept of "editionalising" with larger share for
local news and reader-friendly packaging through professional page designing in
Manorama, which in turn impacted the entire newspaper industry in Kerala. By
2007, Manorama become the only regional language daily [non-English/non-Hindi]
in India to cross 1. 5 million copies in circulation.
K. M. Mathew was succeeded by his son Mammen Mathew in 2010. "In what could
only be described as a rarity then in Indian language journalism, Mathew
showed an unusual commitment to modernisation and professionalism and
became a role model for the newspaper industry, which in the early 1980s was
at the critical juncture of embarking on a phase of unbelievable expansion." The
Hindu praised KM Mathew in their obituary.
As per ABC January–June 2013 figures, Malayala Manorama holds a circulation of
2.1 million readers. Chief Editors
Kandathil Varghese Mappillai K. C. Mammen Mappillai
KM Cheriyan K. M. Mathew
Mammen Mathew Printing centres
Kottayam, Kozhikode, Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Thrissur, Kannur, Kollam,
Palakkad, Malappuram, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Mangalore, Bangalore,
Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, Dubai, Manama and Doha
Other publications by Malayala Manorama Company Limited
See also Kerala Kaumudi
Mathrubhumi List of newspapers in India by
circulation References
Real estate news External links
Malayala Manorama on-line English edition