COVID-19 fatalities among media fraternity in India on the rise: PEC
GUWAHATI:
The number of journalists succumbing to COVID-19 is on the rise as India takes the third position on the list of most fatalities among the media fraternity.
India, with 107 media corona-casualties, is third on the list after Brazil (181 dead) and Peru (140), according to Press Emblem Campaign (PEC) - a Swiss media rights and safety body.
The total number of journalists who lost their lives to the virus globally since its outbreak now stands at 1,184.
Affected countries include Mexico (106 dead), Italy (52), Bangladesh (51), Colombia (49), USA (47), Ecuador (46), United Kingdom (28), Dominican Republic (27), Pakistan (25), Turkey (24), Iran, Russia (21 each), Argentina, Venezuela (17 each), Panama (16), Spain (15) and Ukraine (14) among others.
PEC general secretary Blaise Lempen, while expressing apprehension that the situation may worsen for the safety of journalists on the ground, advocated for adequate compensation to the families of the victims.
He also emphasised early vaccinations to media workers around the world so that they can perform their duties as corona warriors without endangering their lives.
Even after the launch of a massive corona-vaccination programme covering over 21,443,345 citizens, India witnessed the death of well-known journalists, namely Amjad Badshah (Odisha), Tanmoy Chakraborty (Tripura), Vivek Bendre, Sachin Shinde, Jairam Sawant, Sukhnandan Gavai (Maharashtra), Ram Prakash Gupta (Bihar), Rohitash Gupta (Uttar Pradesh) and Ramjan Ali (Andhra Pradesh), among others.
PEC’s country representative Nava Thakuria observed that the probability of an increase in the number of victims in India is high as several established media houses failed to report the actual number of casualties.
Several media houses even showed callousness while reporting their COVID positive cases, probably to avoid the authority’s interference under the existing health protocols.
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