S.P. Adithanar, the founder of Daily Thanthi (the largest selling Tamil daily newspaper), was born to a middle class family in 1905 at Kayamozhi in Tirunelvelli district. A revolutionist, who participated actively in the struggle for freedom, Adithanar pioneered a distinct style in Tamil journalism, which connected with the masses.

Adithanar's interest in Journalism went right back to his days at college. After completing his post-graduate degree, Adithanar went to London in 1927 for a degree in Law and Economics. During this period he kept up a steady flow of stories and articles to newspapers. Despite his compelling dream of starting a newspaper, he practised law at Singapore for eight years from 1934 onwards. This was essentially in response to financial constraints.

October 15, 1942 marked the beginning of Daily Thanthi at Madurai. The language used to communicate was as it was spoken. And this found and held the wavelength of the common man. Daily Thanthi has today, a circulation of over one crore. The publication which has its head office in Chennai, has branches in Trichy, Coimbatore, Salem, Tirunelvelli,, Vellore, Cuddalore, Pondicherry and Bangalore. The Rani magazine and Malai Malar (evening daily) are also publications of Thanthi.

A Journalist since 1966, N Ram was the Associate Editor of The Hindu between 1977 and 1990, and the Washington Corespondent of The Hindu between 1980 and 1982. He is currently the Editor of Frontline, Business Line and Sportstar. He did his Masters in History after graduation from Loyola College and an MS in Comparative Journalism (with Honors and a Gold Medal) at the School of Journalism, Columbia University, New York.

N Ram is the recipient of several awards and honours. Significant among them are the Padma Bhushan (Journalism - 1990), Asian Investigative Journalist of the Year (1990), B.D. Goenka Award for Excellence in Journalism (1989), Freedom of Information Award (1989), National Citizen's Award (1995) and the Krishna Memorial Award (1989).

He is also President of Harmony India - an association for Communal Amity and Secularism.
N. Ram was a first class cricketer who played for Tamil Nadu in the Ranji Trophy of 1966. He loves investigative journalism and has consistently set new benchmarks through his bold writing.

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