Hicky's Bengal Gazette
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| Type | Weekly newspaper |
|---|---|
| Publisher | James Augustus Hicky |
| Founded | January 29, 1780 |
| Ceased publication | March 23, 1782 |
| Headquarters | 67 Radha Bazar Kolkata, India |
Hicky's Bengal Gazette or the Original Calcutta General Advertiser was an English language weekly newspaper published in Kolkata (then Calcutta), the capital of British India. It was the first newspaper printed in Asia, and was published for two years, before the East India Company seized the newspaper's types and printing press. Founded by James Augustus Hicky, a highly eccentric Irishman who had previously spent two years in jail for debt, the newspaper was a strong critic of the administration of the Governor General Warren Hastings. The newspaper was important for its provocative journalism well before its time and its fight for free expression in India.
Hicky began publication of Hicky's Bengal Gazette on January 29, 1780, having first printed a prospectus announcing that he would begin printing a newspaper. The idea of printing a newspaper in India had been first floated twelve years earlier by the Dutch Adventurer William Bolts, but Hicky was to execute the concept.
Hicky first maintained a neutral editing policy (his slogan was "Open to all Parties, but Influenced by None") but after he learned that competitors with ties to the East India Company were intending to launch a rival newspaper,The India Gazette, he changed his editorial stance. Hicky accused an East India Company employee, Simeon Droz, of supporting the India Gazette as punishment for Hicky's refusal to pay a bribe to Droz and Marian Hastings, Warren Hastings' wife. In retaliation for Hicky's accusation, Hastings' Supreme Council forbid Hicky from mailing his newspaper through the post office.
Hicky claimed Hastings' order violated his right to free expression, and accused Hastings of corruption, tyranny, and even erectile dysfunction. Hicky also accused other British leaders in Calcutta of corruption, including the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Judicature at Fort William, Elijah Impey of taking bribes, and the leader of the Protestant Mission, Johann Zacharias Kiernander of stealing from an orphaned children's fund. Hicky's editorial independence was short lived as Hastings and Kiernander sued him for libel. After four dramatic trials in June 1781, the Supreme Court found Hicky guilty and sentenced him to jail.
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