S. Sadanand

{{Short description|Indian journalist}}

{{Infobox person

| name = S. Sadanand

| image =

| alt =

| caption =

| birth_name =

| birth_date = 1900

| birth_place =

| death_date = {{Death year and age|1953|1900}}

| death_place =

| nationality = Indian

| other_names =

| occupation = Journalist

| years_active =

| known_for = Started the Free Press of India Agency

| notable_works =

}}

{{Use Indian English|date=June 2016}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2016}}

Swaminathan Sadanand (1900–1953) was an Indian journalist.

In 1927 Sadanand started the Free Press of India Agency,{{cite book |title=News agencies from pigeon to internet |first=K. M. |last=Shrivastava |publisher=Sterling Publishers |year=2007 |page=39 |isbn=978-1-932705-67-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MHujEBLJcvIC |accessdate=2012-03-04}} which was the first news agency owned and managed by Indians.{{cite book|first=Ravinder |last=Kumar|title=Selected works of Motilal Nehru|volume=5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HZFHAAAAMAAJ|accessdate=4 March 2012|date=December 1993|publisher=Vikas|isbn=978-0-7069-6379-3|page=274}}

In 1930 Sadanand became founder editor of the English-language The Free Press Journal which, according to A. R. Desai, was a strong supporter of the Indian National Congress's (INC) "demand and struggle for independence" from Great Britain.{{cite book|first=A. R. |last=Desai|title=Social Background Of Indian Nationalism |edition=6th|orig-year=1948|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZykLXjdG9S8C&pg=PA213|accessdate=4 March 2012|year=2005|publisher=Popular Prakashan|isbn=978-81-7154-667-1|page=213}} In 1933, he bought The Indian Express, (Madras), from Varadarajulu Naidu, an INC supporter who had founded it in 1932. The closure of The Free Press Journal caused The Indian Express to pass into the control of Ramnath Goenka.{{cite book|first=Arnold P. |last=Kaminsky|title=India Today: An Encyclopedia of Life in the Republic|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VVxlfDHGTFYC&pg=PA340|accessdate=12 March 2012|year=2011|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-0-313-37463-0|page=340}} He was one of the seven initial shareholders of the Press Trust of India when it was founded in 1947.{{cite book|first=K. M. |last=Shrivastava|title=News agencies from pigeon to internet|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MHujEBLJcvIC&pg=PA69|accessdate=12 March 2012|year=2007|publisher=Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd|isbn=978-1-932705-67-6|pages=45, 69–70}}

Sadanand never went to college and was a self-taught journalist. J. K. Singh calls him a great journalist but a poor business manager and a "sad failure".{{cite book|first=J. K. |last=Singh|title=Media And Journalism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C_5z3_IfiZkC&pg=PA3|accessdate=4 March 2012|year=2007|publisher=APH Publishing|isbn=978-81-313-0062-6|pages=3, 5}} Rangaswami Parthasarathy calls him an able editor, an innovator and a fearless patriot.{{cite book|first=Rangaswami |last=Parthasarathy|title=Journalism in India: from the earliest times to the present day|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L_5kAAAAMAAJ|accessdate=4 March 2012|year=1989|publisher=Sterling Publishers|page=293|isbn=9788120708976}}