Riya Kaul
Mahatama Gandhi was an inspiring figure for millions and a towering freedom fighter the world knew him as a social reformer and a political mentor. We all know him for beating the britishers and giving independence but a less talked aspect of his life is his experience in journalism. His journey as a journalist began when he was in South Africa fighting against apartheid. He became the South African correspondent of the voice of India , a newspaper started by Dadubhai Nairoji . According to Gandhi “one of the objective of newspaper is to understand the popular feeling and give expression to it . “ In 1903 Mahatma Gandhi started publishing his own newspaper, The Indian Opinion his mission was simple to make money but to bring change in the society . Mahatma Gandhi took journalism not for the sake of it but he took it as mission in life . When he came back to India he founded his newspaper called Harijans where he often highlighted issue of untouchability and highlighted importance of independence . Gandhi ‘s newspapers mostly focused on dissemination of information and did not have any advertising material . Gandhi had a critical view towards newspapers and he saw them as sources that manipulate society . He believed that advertisements promoted consumerism and diverted people from meaningful pursuits and information leading to false sense of happiness based on possessions.
Gandhi mostly focused on self sufficiency and advocated lifestyle that was simple and prioritised moral and spiritual values over materialism. He felt advertisements encouraged materialism and social inequality and environmental degradation.
In his view advertisements undermined human values .
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