MALAYALA MANORAMA

Doctrina Christam written in "Malayalam Tamul" by Fr. Henrique Henriques, a Jesuit priest is believed to be the first book to be printed in Kerala. Tamil language has been called Lingua Malabar Tamul in the book since Malabar was a synonym for Kerala and it included native States of Travancore, Cochin as well as Malabar district which was once part of Madras Presidency. This was in the year 1578 at Kollam. However, the first Malayalam book came out in 1824 from CMS Press, Kottayam founded by Benjamin Bailey in the year 1821.

Kottayam is also the place where Malayala Manorama was started from on 22 March, 1890 by Kandathil Varghese Mappillai as a weekly. This became a daily in 1928 and is the largest circulating daily of Kerala today. In addition, Manorama is Kerala's largest selling and most widely read newspaper. This is also India's largest circulated "regional newspaper". The Manorama group publishes it. It is the first joint stock publishing company of Republic of India.

“Malayala” is the adjective form (in Malayalam language) of the word Malayalam (Noun). “Manorama” is a word of Sanskrit origin. It means pleasing or delightful to the mind. So put together, “Malayala Manorama” means “all things pleasing to the mind” as well as “related to Malayalam”.

Like any typical broadsheet newspaper, the Malayala Manorama also is exactly eight columns wide. The lead story covers up almost entire half of the first page, which makes it almost seven columns wide. All the stories have byline and cutline. But most of the stories are without dateline. Wherever appropriate reports are provided with a drop head. The stories are also provided with jump and jumpline.

A) Flag

Flag is the name of the newspaper as it is displayed on page one. It is also called as nameplate.

Malayala Manorama flag is the name itself written in bold black letters (in the Malayalam script) with the official logo in between the two parts of the name. The logo of Malayala Manorama is actually a slight variation of the Royal Coat of Arms which was awarded by the Maharaja of Travancore.

B) Banner

Banner is a wide headline extending across the entire page.

The banner of Malayala Manorama unlike English language newspapers is sometimes printed in color.

C) Headline

Headline is a large type running above a story to summarize its content. It is also called a ‘head’ for short.

In Malayala Manorama’s case, the whole newspaper is filled with colorful headlines ranging from magenta to purple color.

D) Sidebar

A sidebar is small story accompanying a bigger story on the same topic. Malayala Manorama always puts a sidebar in stories of prime importance.

E) Layout

The layout of the newspaper is neat, colorful and clutter-free.

Usually there’s a single ad ( the Solus ad) on the bottom right of the front page. Malayala
Manorama mainly places advertisements of educational institutions instead of commercial products on the front page. The bottom left contains caricatures.

There is also a small strip running vertically from top to bottom but its not an index.

F) Folio

It is the type at the top of an inside page giving the newspaper’s name, date and page number. Recently, after the launch of Malayala Manorama’s website the folio has undergone slight changes. It now includes the official website’s link too.

G) Political Affiliation

The Malayala Manorama is not surreptitious about its support for the Congress Party. Although the newspaper has been criticized a lot for this, supporters of the paper claim that it is not doing anything wrong. All the other major newspapers of Kerala including Matrubhoomi support the left party and sugarcoat their bad deeds.

E) Circulation and Readership
Malayala Manorama enjoys a readership of over 15 million on a circulation base of over 15 lakhs copies. It is the only daily in Kerala, and one of the few in India, to have such an enormous following. In fact, it is the largest circulated regional language daily in India and reaches 63% of all newspaper readers and 39% of all adults in Kerala.

F) Achayan Paper
This is a derogatory term tagged for Malayala Manorama. Basically it means that the newspaper is pro-Christian. But at the same time Malayala Manorama is criticized for taking the side of rich Christians and not needy ones. The paper is also chided for helping Christian educational institutions to get more students through management seats. This system of procuring seats through the management quota involves heavy handling of money and also results in brilliant and capable students getting rejected.

G) Advertisements
Malayala Manorama has consistently enjoyed the largest share of the advertising pie, more than any other newspaper or any television channel in Kerala.
The daily has looked for novel ways to absorb the inflow of advertising. One such innovation is the twin issues – two newspapers with the same nameplate and layout – brought out during festival time, when demand for premium positions is high. This gives the readers two newspapers for the price of one, the advertisers their preferred positions and the newspaper itself, optimum revenues during the peak season of the year.

H) Journalists

Prominent journalists who have worked with the Manorama daily or other Manorama publications include Vaikkom Chandrasekharan Nair, E.V. Krishna Pillai, E.V.Sreedharan, T.V.R. Shenoy, K.Gopalakrishnan, Babu Chengannoor , K.R. Chummar, Moorkoth Kunjappa, K.M.Tharakan, T.K.G. Nair, K.G Nedungadi, V.K. Bhargavan Nair and K. Padmanabhan Nair.