Merch
News
Panchangam
Apps
Downloads
For Teachers
Resources
About
PEOPLE
IDEAS
PLACES
CULTURE
CREATE
STORIES
GAMES
Na. Kasturi
நா. கஸ்தூரி
The editor of The Hindu — the dean of Indian journalism
Years
1924 – 2003
Known as
N. Kasturi — the editor of The Hindu
Birthplace
Chennai, Tamil Nadu
Field
Poets & Writers
“The newspaper's first duty is to the truth — and its only master is the public good.”
— N. Kasturi
The Story
Born in 1924, Kasturi joined The Hindu, the great newspaper founded by G. Subramania Iyer, in his youth and served it for a lifetime. He rose to become its editor in 1965, and for more than a quarter of a century he guided the paper through the great events of the modern nation.
His editing was marked by its integrity, its balance, and its independence — he refused to bend the paper to any power, and his editorials were read with respect across the country. The profession honoured him as the dean of Indian editors, a man who set the standard of the free press.
He died in 2003, honoured as one of the greatest editors of the world. The Hindu, under his hand, remained the model of the independent newspaper, and his name is remembered wherever the freedom and integrity of the press are valued.
Core Ideas
The Editor
Twenty-five years at the head of The Hindu.
The Dean of Editors
The title the profession gave him.
The Integrity
He refused to bend the paper to any power.
The Independence
The free press as the guardian of the public good.
The Standard
His Hindu was the model of the world's press.
Why it matters today
N. Kasturi is honoured as one of the greatest editors of Indian journalism — the dean of editors whose integrity and independence set the standard of the free press. His Hindu remained the model of the independent newspaper, and his name is remembered wherever the freedom of the press is valued.