Devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic since early this year, the robust Indian media fraternity is set to bid farewell to 2020 with a heavy heart as many lost their lives due to COVID or were targeted and killed. As many as 53 working journalists lost their lives due to the coronavirus infection this year, while the largest democracy in the world also witnessed killings of 13 scribes, and targeted harassment, till the first week of December.

India, Mexico most dangerous countries for journalists

India along with Mexico emerged as the most dangerous countries for media work this year, according to the Press Emblem Campaign (PEC). In its annual report released, the Geneva-based watchdog said that the number of journalists killed increased by 10 percent compared with last year. In total, since January, 83 media persons have been killed in 30 countries around the world, up from 75 in 2019. 

India leads with 13 killings, ahead of Mexico with 11. Other countries dubbed as dangerous are Pakistan (eight), Afghanistan (five), Iraq (five), the Philippines (four), and Honduras (four). Three assassinations were recorded in Nigeria as well as in Syria and Venezuela with two each in Brazil, Guatemala, Liberia, and Somalia.  Countries like Argentina, Bangladesh, Barbados, Cambodia, Cameroon, Colombia, Ecuador, Egypt, Indonesia, Mozambique, Paraguay, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Turkey, and Yemen - all recorded one death each. The report was released on December 10.

“Fewer journalists have died in areas of armed conflict this year, but too many of them have been targeted for their works in peaceful countries,” said Blaise Lempen, Secretary-General of PEC (www.pressemblem.ch).

COVID-related deaths

India stood second when it came to journalists' dying of COVID complications.

About 585 journalists have died of COVID-19 complications in 57 countries till December 26.  The affected countries include Peru (93), India (53), Brazil (51), Mexico (42), Ecuador and Bangladesh (41 each), Italy (34), the US (30), Pakistan (22), Turkey (17), and the UK (12), etc. 

Lempen, himself a senior journalist, said that it is the worst statistics since the Second World War.

The report said that the "safety of media workers is particularly at risk in this crisis because they must continue to provide information on the ground. A number of them died for lack of adequate protective measure when doing their jobs."

Indian journalists at risk 

India witnessed the latest killing of a video journalist in Rajasthan. Abhishek Soni (27) succumbed to injuries when he was attacked by three men. Soni, who used to work for a local news channel, had gone to a roadside eatery along with a woman media person on December 8. As they were waiting, the assailants started misbehaving with the female colleague. When Soni protested, it led to a skirmish. Soni was attacked and he later died in a Jaipur hospital on December 23.

Earlier Malayalam journalist SV Pradeep (43) lost his life in a hit-and-run accident on December 14 in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. Journalist Rakesh Singh Nirbhik (35) was found dead along with a friend on November 27 when his house in Balrampur locality in Uttar Pradesh was set on fire. Severely injured Rakesh and his friend were taken to the hospital, where both succumbed to burn injuries.  The journalist family had claimed it was a pre-planned murder as Rakesh had exposed the corrupt practices of the accused who was later arrested.

Days earlier, a journalist from Andhra Pradesh G Nagaraj (45) was killed by a group of people in the Hanumantha area in Tamil Nadu. The Telugu reporter was attacked with sharp weapons in full public view on November 22. He died on his way to the hospital. Nagaraj wrote a series of articles against the real-estate mafia for a Tamil newspaper Villangam.

On November 16, a reporter Uday Paswan and his wife were killed in UP’s Sonbhadra locality.  Associated with a Lucknow-based Hindi daily, Paswan died on the spot, while his wife Sheetla Paswan succumbed to injuries the next day in the hospital.  Another UP scribe Suraj Pandey (25) was found dead on a railway track at the Sadar Kotwail area on November 12. His family has claimed that the Hindi reporter was murdered.

Bhopal-based television reporter Syed Adil Wahab (35) was found murdered in a forest area on  November 8. Wahab, who used to work for a Hindi news channel,  went missing the previous day and later his body was recovered by the police. Tamil television scribe Isravel Moses (27) was hacked to death by a group of anti-social elements in Kancheepuram on the same day. Assam’s Kakopathar based television journalist Parag Bhuyan (55) died in a mysterious road accident on November 11. The government also ordered a probe into the incident. The police have seized the vehicle that hit Bhuyan and arrested its driver and another person. Another UP journalist  Ratan Singh (45), who worked for a news channel, Sahara Samay, was shot dead by his neighbours in Ballia locality on August 24. Tinsukia-based Assamese television scribe Bijendeep Tanti (32) was found murdered on  August 8 at his rented office.

Weeks back, Madhya Pradesh journalist Sunil Tiwari (35), who worked for a Gwalior-based Hindi newspaper was beaten, stabbed, and shot to death in Niwari locality on July 22. On the same day, UP journalist Vikram Joshi (45) succumbed to injuries in the hospital after he was attacked on July 20  by some local goons. Another Andhra journalist named Ganta Naveen (27) was murdered and his body buried at Nandigama locality in Vijayawada on June 29. He had exposed the criminal activities of the local mafia in his locality through his YouTube channel. Eight people were arrested for his murder.

The brutal murder of UP’s young and brave reporter Shubham Mani Tripathi shocked the media fraternity. Shubham (25) had been reporting against the illegal sand miners for his Kanpur-based Hindi daily Kampu Mail. He continued to report despite receiving death threats from the criminals. He was shot dead in the Unnao locality on June 19 by two shooters. Orissa reporter Aditya Kumar Ransingh (40), who worked in a web channel, was hacked to death on February 16 in Banki locality.

Although, international and national journalists bodies that compiled their list by December first week and have given the figure for the killings of journalists at 13, the fact is till December end two more journalists were killed in India.  Last year, India witnessed nine deaths of journalists, but only one case emerged as a targeted murder for his work as a journalist.

K Satyanarayana (45) of Andhra Jyothy was hacked to death on October 15 last year. Local scribes had informed that Satyanarayana was targeted earlier too. Others who were killed last year included Jobanpreet Singh, Vijay Gupta, Radheyshyam Sharma, Ashish Dhiman, Chakresh Jain, Anand Narayan, and Nityanand Pandey. Kerala scribe K Muhammed Basheer was mowed down by a vehicle.

Various local, regional, and national journalist bodies in India along with a number of international media watchdogs like the Committee to Protect Journalists, Reporters sans/without Borders, International Federation of Journalists, and PEC, etc have condemned the incidents of murders and demanded that the Indian government should catch the culprits under the law ensuring justice to the victims’ families.

(The writer,  a Northeast-based journalist, is a country contributor to PEC. The views expressed are personal)