History
The story of PTI is virtually the story of independent India. The run-up to Independence had also thrown up ideas of running free India’s own national news agency as an objective disseminator of information about a resurgent nation, freed of the foreign yoke. “The evolution of the concept of a national news agency was the direct consequence of the spirit of independence that swept the country since the days of the Quit India Movement. “The desire to shake off the imperial domination in the field of news supply was at the heart of this evolving thought,” said Ramnath Goenka, the fearless press baron and freedom fighter.
After two years of consultations and planning among senior journalists, newspaper proprietors and national leaders like Pandit Nehru and Sardar Patel, free India’s first national news agency, the Press Trust of India, was incorporated in Madras on August 27, 1947. This was within a fortnight of what Jawaharlal Nehru described as India’s “Tryst With Destiny” at the historic central hall of Parliament on the night of August 14-15.
Though PTI began its operations in 1949, its origin goes back to the early years of the 20th Century when an enterprising Indian, Keshab Chandra Roy, launched its forerunner -the Associated Press of India (API) -. The first Indian to function as a Political Correspondent at the British imperial capital, Roy was a high-school dropout who made a success of a journalistic career and rose to be a nominated member of the Central Legislative Assembly as a distinguished journalist. Working for more than one newspaper at a time, including The Tribune of Lahore, the Indian Daily Mail of Bombay and the Amrita Bazar Patrika of Calcutta, Roy found it easy to have a news pooling arrangement with European journalists to carry on with his work. It was from this experience that the idea of a news agency grew in Roy’s mind. Soon he collaborated with three of his professional colleagues – Usha Nath Sen, Durga Das and A.S. Iyengar – to float and run API.
Though the exact time of its birth is somewhat hazy, according to the book ‘Reuter’s Century: 1851-1951′ by Graham Storey, it was started in 1910. K C Roy finally gave up in 1919 his brave effort to run an Indian-owned domestic news agency and Reuters became the sole supplier of foreign and domestic news to the government and to the newspapers of India.The London-based Eastern News Agency, owned by Reuters, merely used the name Associated Press of India. API was to be registered as a private limited company, wholly owned by Reuters, much later in September 1945. The seven men who subscribed initially to the shares of PTI were K Srinivasan, Editor, ‘The Hindu’, Madras, Khasa Subba Rau, Editor, ‘Swatantra’, Madras, S.S Vasan, Editor, ‘The Anandavikatan’, Madras, S. Sadanand, Managing Editor, ‘Free Press Journal’, Bombay, C.R. Srinivasan, Editor, ‘Swadesamitran’, Madras, A.A. Hayles, Editor and Director, ‘The Mail’, Madras and S.V. Swamy, Editor, ‘Free Press’, Madras.
Recalling PTI’s takeover of the news operations of the erstwhile API, Goenka wrote: “Sadanand and I were happy that PTI eventually took over the operations of API from February 1, 1949. We were, however, unhappy with the package in terms of which PTI became a junior member of Reuters which retained its monopoly of distributing international news to Indian newspapers.” PTI, registered in 1947, took over news operations from API from February 1, 1949. “When PTI emerged a free agent in 1953, we felt as happy as Jawaharlal did at the end of the interval between India’s attainment of dominion status and its emergence as a Sovereign Republic – an interval during which he chafed at having to couch communications to His Majesty in the phraseology of a subject addressing his liege. February 1,1949, PTI has reported India’s history as it happened, blow by blow, in the best traditions of news agency journalism, with speed, accuracy and objectivity. The first general elections of free India in 1952, the first Asian Games a year earlier, the war with China in 1962, Pandit Nehru’s death in 1964, the great split of the Indian National Congress in 1969, the 1971 war with Pakistan culminating in the birth of Bangladesh, India’s first nuclear test in 1974, the emergency in 1975, terrorist violence in Punjab in the 1980s, assassination of Indira Gandhi in 1984 as well as the stirring events of the 1990s, were all reported in detail by PTI journalists, most of them in anonymity.
In the last 50 years, PTI has come a long way, growing in size and stature as the oldest and largest among news agencies of the countries that became free after World War II.
Our Services
English News Service: Available in two forms The ‘core’ service covers major developments in diverse fields in a compact form. A more comprehensive segmented service allows papers to pick additional inputs from segments of their choice. National/ Regional, Economic/Commercial, International, and Sports Core service puts out about 40,000 words and the full segmented service upto 100,000 words per day.
- Bhasha: Bhasha is the Hindi language news service of PTI. With its own network in the Hindi-speaking states and drawing on PTI files, Bhasha puts out about 40,000 words per day.
- Stock Scan: A screen-based service providing stock market information from major stock exchanges of the country.
- News Scan: Displays news in capsule from on video monitors Major developments in the country and abroad are covered.
- Data India: A reference weekly providing a digest on the happenings in India, in a user-friendly alphabetical listing
- Economic Service: A fortnightly journal providing analytical reports on the state of the Indian economy and trends in the corporate world.
- PTI Mag: A weekly package of eleven special stories on topics ranging from arts to business to science. Available through the wire service as well as through mail
- Science Service: Reports on the developments in the fields of science and technology with particular reference to India in a fortnightly journal
- PTI Graphics: A weekly mailer package of 14 graphics, covers all major developments. On special occasions like the budget, graphics are distributed by satellite.
- PTI Feature: A package of four weekly features on topical national, international and general events PTI-TV Provides spot coverage and makes corporate documentaries on assignment basis
- Photo: Available in two packages to suit the needs of small and big newspapers PTI Photo provides pictures on the national, foreign and sports scenes via satellite, dial-up and hand delivery. The full colour service of the Associated Press Of America (AP) is also made available through PTI.
- Asia Pulse: An on-line data bank on economic developments and business opportunities in asian countries. Formed by PTI and four other Asian media organizations, Asia Pulse International is registered as a company in Singapore.
