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''Samachar Darpan'' ((ベンガル語:সমাচার দর্পণ)) was a Bengali weekly newspaper published by the Baptist Missionary Society from the Baptist Mission Press at Serampore in the first half of the 19th century. It is considered to be the first Indian-language newspaper, although some historians contend that the Bengali weekly ''Bengal Gazetti'' published by Ganga Kishore Bhattacharya had begun publication earlier. == History == The success of the Bengali monthly ''Digdarshan'' encouraged the missionaries of the Baptist Missionary Society to embark on a new venture - the publication of a Bengali newspaper. The initiative was taken by Joshua Marshman and William Ward. At about the same time Harachandra Roy was also planning to start a Bengali newspaper from his own printing press at Chorebagan Street in Calcutta. But before he could bring out his publication, the missionaries published the first issue of ''Samachar Darpan'' from the Baptist Mission Press at Serampore on May 23, 1818. The newspaper was published every Saturday and was edited by John Clark Marshman. Its price was 4 ''anna''s per copy. It contained news, both Indian and European, collected from various sources, particular from English newspapers. It also contained brief articles on various subjects. It carried some material of educational value which made it respected and popular among the educated people. Both in typography and contents the ''Samachar Darpan'' maintained a fairly good standard. Its coverage of local news was certainly better than any other English or Indian language newspaper. By reprinting news and comments from other Bengali newspapers, the ''Samachar Darpan'' enabled its readers to have acquaintance with the different sections of the Bengali opinion. The paper covered seven main beats: news of the government officials, government circulars, news of the European countries other than Britain, new events, birth, obituary and wedding, news of England, history of India and its scholarly books. It published useful information on the appointment of judges, collectors and so on. From July 1829, the newspaper began to appear in both Bengali and English; the Bengali and English sections represented translation of each other. From January 1832, the ''Samachar Darpan'' began to be published twice a week - on Wednesday and Saturday. The price was raised from a rupee per month to one and a half. However as a result of the hike in postage duty the twice a week publication was discontinued and it again became a weekly newspaper from 8 November 1834. In December 1841 the missionaries decided to discontinue the publication that ended with the last issue of December. The official reason stated was that John Clark Marshman who was still the editor of the newspaper couldn't find sufficient time owing to other pre-occupations. But the actual reason was that the ''Samachar Darpan'', though very successful as a newspaper, had failed miserably in its primary objective - propagation of Christianity. Samachar Darpan had an uninterrupted career till the end of 1841, when the publication was discontinued. By 1836, the circulation had reached 400, which was much higher than any other Indian language publication. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Samachar Darpan」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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