The Kerala Media Academy will be organising a ‘media history yatra’ from February 21 to March 1, tracing the history of the Malayalam newspapers through their places of birth.
At a press conference to release the logo of the yatra here on Friday, academy chairman R.S.Babu said that the yatra is meant to uphold values of journalism, press freedom and enlightenment.
The yatra, in association with the Kerala Union of Working Journalists and the Information and Public Relations Department, will begin from Swadeshabhimani Ramakrishna Pillai’s home in Neyyattinkara and conclude at Gundert Bhavan in Thalassery, where Rajyasamacharam , the first newspaper in Malayalam, took birth.
Students in yatra
Journalists and 50 journalism students will take part in the yatra that will travel through the birth places of the newspapers of the early days to the current offices of the institutions. Speaker P.Sreeramakrishnan will inaugurate the yatra at the Kerala Kaumudi ’s office in Pettah at 3 p.m. on February 21. A ‘Guru vandanam’ event to honour veteran journalists will be held. Journalist and former MP, Sebastian Paul, will flag off the yatra from Swadeshabhimani ’s home in Neyyattinkara on February 22. The yatra will proceed to Venganoor, where social reformer Ayyankali used to run the Sadhujana Paripalini newspaper. Later, the group will proceed to Vaikom, to honour Vaikom Abdul Khader Moulavi, who used to run Swadeshabhimani and provided support to the likes of Ramakrishna Pillai. In Kayikkara, the group will offer tributes to poet Kumaran Asan, who used to run the Vivekodayam newspaper.
