Dinamalar

Dinamalar was founded by T. V. Ramasubbaiyer on 6 September 1951 at Thiruvananthapuram. The operations were moved to Tirunelveli in 1957.[3]

The newspaper is printed in 10 cities in Tamil Nadu namely Chennai, Coimbatore, Erode, Madurai, Nagercoil, Pondicherry, Salem, Tiruchirappalli, Tirunelveli, Vellore[3] and Bangalore. As of 2016, the newspaper has a circulation of 942,812.[2]

The investigative journal Cobrapost has documented the newspaper to make biased reporting in favour of the hindutva and BJP in an undercover sting operation.[4] The online daily Nadappu has reported the newspaper often gives mocking headlines to its reports except those favouring Hindutva, BJP and similar.[5]

The following supplements are published by Dinamalar

In 2018, The Cobrapost released an undercover investigation and video which exposed the executives of Dinamalar speaking of promoting Hindutva and promoting the agenda of RSS and BJP.[6] During the investigation the editor mentioned "We have a lot of same wavelength with the BJP family is around."[7][8] The executives explained about promoting the character assassination of opposition leaders like Rahul Gandhi, Mayawati and Akhilesh by using words like Pappu, bua and babua respectively.[9][4]

On 8 September 2008, Dinamalar's supplementary edition Computer malar carried a cartoon of the Islamic prophet, Muhammad which led to protest from Islamic groups.[10]

On 22 April 2019, Dinamalar received a backlash after its headline on the 2019 Sri Lanka Easter bombings report was seen to be mocking Christians and Jesus. The report titled  "O...Sesappa" which meant Oh...Jesus in a mocking tone was seen offensive by many. Dinamalar Office asked for police protection following the incident.[11]

In January 2019, Dinamalar posted a body-shaming cartoon of the BJP's Tamil Nadu President Tamilisai Soundararajan. The cartoon depicted the BJP leader playing ring toss, makes her look wantonly disheveled.[12]

In October 2009, Dinamalar published an article claiming that several Tamil film actresses were involved in prostitution along with pictures and names. The South Indian Film Artistes' Association petitioned to have the senior sub editor arrested and staged a rally condemning the same. The senior sub editor of the newspaper, Lenin was arrested.[13] He was released on the next day on protests from Chennai Press Club, Madras Union of Journalists, Press Trust of India and The Indian Newspaper Society. Dinamalar stated that the news was obtained from ethical sources and there was no secondary agenda.[14]

In September 2019, A Judicial Magistrate in Krishnagiri sentenced the Editor and the Publisher of Tamil daily Dinamalar to two years’ imprisonment in a defamation case filed by a police inspector. The Judicial Magistrate passed the order on a private complaint lodged by an inspector, who was posted in Krishnagiri in 2005. The complainant said in a column “Tea Kadai Bench”, published in the daily, it was alleged that he received kickbacks from those trading in illicit liquor that was transported from Bengaluru into Tamil Nadu via Hosur. Besides, the report alleged that he had acquired properties through illegal means. Though he had sent a legal notice to the daily seeking damages of ₹10 lakh, the publication did not respond to it. The lawyers representing the editor and the publisher had argued that it was the duty of the media to hold those in positions accountable. However, the magistrate held that the article was not backed with evidence and lent to “gossip mongering”. The court said the write-up, that had not named the complainant in the allegations, however, ended up directly naming him as a conversational tool.[15]

• Official website (Mobile)