Losing media corona-warriors

-by Nava Thakuria

As the Covid-19 pandemic emerged as a severe health hazard to the
Indian media fraternity many more journalists start falling prey to
the disaster. Thousands of journalists along with other media
employees got infected with the Novel Coronavirus as they have been
playing the role of Corona-warriors along with the practicing doctors,
nurses, sanitation workers, police personnel, etc. Lately, the
casualties among media families because of Covid-19 across the country
started mounting.

The populous country has lost nearly 50 working journalists to
Covid-19 aggravated complications till the end of October, whereas the
worldwide media Corona-casualties rises to over 450. The increase of
media Corona-casualties in the Indian newspapers, news channels, and
digital news outlets is precisely tempted by the callous approach of
editor-managements’ towards the scribe while engaging them in
reporting the pandemic from the ground with little pre-cautions and
also preventive arrangements.

The robust Indian media family lost at least twelve journalists to
Corona-complications in September. Lately, a young video journalist
from Tripura in Northeast India lost his battle against the Corona
infection. Jitendra Debbarma (46), who worked for a Kakborok language
cable channel named Chini Khorang, succumbed to Corona complications
on October 20, 2020, at Khumulwng hospital, which is around 25 km away
from the State capital city of Agartala. Hailed from Balaramthakur
Para in Jirania locality, the soft-spoken scribe left behind two minor
daughters with other relatives.

Earlier, Mysuru based journalist Pavan Hettur (35), who worked for
Kannada daily Prajavani died of the virus infection at a private
hospital. He was admitted after testing Corona positive and passed
away on 18 October. Patna based photo-journalist Krishna Mohan Sharma
(63), who worked for Times of India, died of Coronavirus complications
on 15 October while undergoing treatment at AIIMS, New Delhi. The same
day, veteran cricket journalist & commentator Kishore Bhimani (81),
died after contracting the virus at a hospital in Kolkata.

The robust Indian media family lost at least twelve journalists to
Corona-complications in September. Ludhiana-based veteran journalist
Ashwani Kapoor (70), who worked for highly circulated newspaper Punjab
Kesari, succumbed to the virus at a private hospital on 29 September.
Guwahati based news presenter in All India Radio, Golap Saikia (52)
died from Corona-infections on 26 September at a city-based private
hospital.

Patna’s senior journalist Arun Kumar Verma (68), who was associated
with various Prasar Bharti outlets died during Coronavirus treatment
on 22 September. Indore based journalist Manoj Binwal (55), who was
associated with Hindi newspaper Prajatantra, died of the virus
infection while undergoing treatment on 20 September. A day back,
Agra’s journalist Ami Adhar Nidar (50), who worked for widely
circulated Dainik Jagaran, passed away with the infection.

Jammu based scribe Anil Srivastava (68), who was associated with
United News of India, succumbed to Covid-19 on 18 September at a
government-run hospital. Same day Jabalpur’s journalist Harish Choubey
(60), who worked for popular Hindi newspaper Dainik Bhaskar, expired
due to Coronavirus infection. Aurangabad based journalist Rahul Dolare
(49) died on 14 September at a government hospital. The same day,
Chennai’s popular journalist-actor Florent C Pereira (67) died of
Covid-19.

Punjab’s Abohar based journalist Naresh Bajaj (57), who was associated
with Sach Kahoon newspaper, succumbed to Corona-complications on 10
September. Ravinder Kumar (30) from Himachal Pradesh, who worked for
Dainik Jagran, died of Coronavirus on 9 September. Assam’s rural
reporter Dhaneswar Rabha (35) died at Guwahati medical college
hospital on 6 September. Rabha is the first scribe in the region to
die of Coronavirus. The next day, senior journalist Ashim Dutta (65)
passed away with the infection at Silchar medical college hospital.

Months back, Dhanbad’s journalist Sanjiv Sinha, Gorakhpur’s
photo-journalist Rajiv Ketan, Mumbai’s senior film-journalist Shyam
Sarma, Nellore’s scribe Narayanam Seshacharyulu, Pune’s television
reporter Pandurang Raikar, Kanpur’s television journalist Neelanshu
Shukla, Patiala’s photo-journalist Jai Deep, Tirupati’s television
reporter Madhusudan Reddy, and video journalist M Parthasarathy
succumbed to the virus infections.

The list also includes senior journalist Prakash Deshmukh from Mumbai,
veteran journalist Ashok Churi from Palghar, television reporter
Ramanathan & news videographer E Velmurugan from Chennai, news
presenter Davinder Pal Singh from Chandigarh, television scribe Manoj
Kumar from Hyderabad, print-journalist Pankaj Kulashrestha from Agra,
Orissa’s journalists Simanchal Panda, K. Ch. Ratnam, and Priyadarshi
Patnaik. Kolkata’s photo-journalist Ronny Roy became the first scribe
in India to lose his battle against the virus infection.

With all the casualties, the pandemic has crushed the mainstream media
industry. Many print media owners have stopped publishing physical
newspapers and shifted to the digital space. Some managements closed
down their editions in different localities, reduced the number of
pages, cut salaries, and even layoff employees including senior
journalists citing the reason of shrinking advertisement revenues
inviting no or little opposition from the salaried editors.

When over a hundred Guwahati based media persons turned positive for
Covid-19, the concerned newspapers, news channels, and other media
outlets tried to hide the information. Some infected media persons
have however made personal revelations on social media. Various
organizations including Journalists’ Forum Assam, Press Club of Assam,
etc criticized the media outlets for their selective reporting over
the issue arguing that when they identify Corona-patients by name &
photographs, how come they collectively remain silent while their own
employees turning Covid-19 positive?