Who was the chairman of the First Press Commission?

Concept: A Press Commission is a government-appointed commission of inquiry that reviews the condition of the press — ownership patterns, editorial freedom, the working conditions of journalists and the machinery of self-regulation — and recommends institutional reform. Because such an inquiry has to examine the freedom of the press from the executive itself, its chair is conventionally a senior judge rather than a serving official or a working editor.

Application: The Government of India appointed the First Press Commission in 1952 and named Justice G. S. Rajadhyaksha, a judge of the Bombay High Court, as its chairman. The Commission submitted its report in 1954. Its central recommendation — a statutory but non-governmental body to preserve press freedom and maintain professional standards — was carried into law as the Press Council Act, 1965, under which the Press Council of India was first constituted in 1966.

Contrast with the other names:

• P. K. Goswami — Justice Parbati Kumar Goswami, a former judge of the Supreme Court of India, chaired the Second Press Commission constituted in 1978; that commission was dissolved before it could submit a report.

• K. K. Mathew — Justice Kuttyil Kurien Mathew chaired the Second Press Commission after it was reconstituted in 1980, and its report was submitted in 1982.

• Girilal Jain — a journalist who edited The Times of India from 1978 to 1988; he sat as a member of the reconstituted Second Press Commission, but he never chaired a Press Commission.

Result: The First Press Commission (1952–1954) was chaired by Justice G. S. Rajadhyaksha, and its report laid the foundation of the Press Council of India.