Hicky's Bengal Gazette

Hicky's Bengal Gazette

Front page of Hicky's Bengal Gazette, 10 March 1781, from the University of Heidelberg's archives.
Type	Weekly newspaper
Publisher	James Augustus Hicky
Founded	29 January 1780
Ceased publication	30 March 1782
Headquarters	67 Radha Bazar Kolkata, India
Country	British 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, between 1780 and 1782, 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,^[1] the newspaper was a strong critic of the administration of Governor General Warren Hastings. The newspaper was important for its provocative journalism and its fight for free expression in India.