Across India, casualties among the media fraternity because of Covid-19 complications have started kicking in. Now, almost every other day, the country is losing a media person to the coronavirus. According to the Journalists’ Forum Assam (JFA), the last three media corona casualties were reported within four days and urged every reporter and media person to be cautious while reporting from the ground.
The latest report surfaced from the Nellore locality of Andhra Pradesh, where journalist Narayanam Seshacharyulu (aged 56) died of Covid-19 on 3 September 2020. Associated with the prestigious Telugu daily Eenadu, Seshacharyulu was hospitalized in Tirupati a few days back after testing positive for the virus infection. He worked in different localities like Chittoor, Muttukuru, Guntur, Hyderabad, and lately West Godavari. Seshacharyulu left behind his wife and a son with other relatives.
A day back, Pune (Maharashtra) based television reporter Pandurang Raikar (aged 42) succumbed to Covid-complications in an Ahmednagar town hospital. Raikar, who worked for the TV9 news channel, tested positive in the antigen test and was hospitalized. However, his family members alleged that treatment was delayed by the hospital authority. Raikar left behind his wife, two kids, and a host of relatives.
Earlier, another television journalist Neelanshu Shukla (aged 30) from Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh) died of corona infections. Shukla, who was associated with AajTak, tested positive for Covid-19 a few days back and died on 31 August in the hospital. A bachelor, Shukla also worked for NDTV and Republic TV as a Lucknow correspondent.
A few weeks ago, Maharashtra’s veteran journalist Ashok Churi, who edited the Marathi weekly, PalgharTimes, died at a Palghar based hospital. He was later tested positive for Covid-19. The printer-publisher of AsomiyaKhabar (Rantu Das) also died at a Guwahati hospital and tested positive for the virus infection. On the other hand, New Delhi based writer Tarun Sisodia killed himself while undergoing treatment at AIIMS.
Patiala (Punjab) based photojournalist Jai Deep, Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh) based television reporter Madhusudan Reddy & video journalist M Parthasarathy, Chennai (Tamil Nadu) based television reporter Ramanathan and Orissa’s journalists namely Simanchal Panda, K Ch Ratnam & Priyadarshi Patnaik, Chennai based news videographer E Velmurugan, Chandigarh based news presenter Davinder Pal Singh, Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh) based television writer Manoj Kumar, Agra (UP) based journalist Pankaj Kulashrestha and Kolkata (West Bengal) based photojournalist Ronny Roy also lost their battles against the virus.
In a media statement, JFA president Rupam Barua and secretary Nava Thakuria, gave his deep appreciation for all the media persons relentlessly playing the role of corona warriors, along with the practicing doctors, nurses, sanitation workers and police personnel who are working in the midst of the Co-Vid 19 pandemic. The forum also urged the Union government in New Delhi to announce a comprehensive insurance package for the media corona warriors.
On the other hand, the forum also expressed anguish that, even though over one hundred writers and reporters across Assam got infected with the virus, this worrisome development has not been reported properly by the concerned newspapers, news channels, and digital platforms. (Only a few infected media persons made personal revelations in social media). The forum also showed its appreciation given that Eenadu has owned pain and pride while reporting the demise of Seshacharyulu while fighting the virus infection.
