Death of a journalist

The death of freelance journalist Hemchandra Pandey in an alleged fake encounter has triggered outrage among many journalists and human rights activists all over the country, even at the level of UNESCO and International Federation of Journalists. Shamefully, the national dailies he used to write for continue to disown him 
Shaweta Anand Delhi

The memory of freelance journalist Hemchandra Pandey, widely perceived to have been killed in a fake encounter by the police in Andhra Pradesh on July 2, is still raw. In that backdrop, Journalists for People organised an open discussion on the 'Role of Journalists in Undeclared Emergency' at Gandhi Peace Foundation in Delhi on July 20, 2010. Several senior writers and young female and male journalists participated in the 'conversation'. 

Consulting Editor of Economic and Political Weekly, Gautam Navalakha, said that the death of Pandey was not an isolated incident. Several youngsters have been killed in Kashmir in just the last two months. "Reporters face lot of pressure since the ruling class tries to suppress or buy off media houses. The editors also tend to kill genuine stories out of fear," he said.  "Reporters must learn to deal with this by not letting their pen become a pawn at the hands of others," he added. "We must take a stand now and speak up because those killed were in favour of peace." 

He was also referring to the death of Cherukuri Rajkumar alias Azad, top leader of the banned CPI (Maoist), who was part of the peace process between the state and Maoists initiated by Swami Agnivesh, and was killed alongside Pandey, when the latter had reportedly gone to interview him. There is widespread opinion that he let his guard down due to the invitation for peace talks and hence was caught and killed - that it was a fake encounter.

"This is indeed a state of undeclared emergency, where levels of democracy has stooped so low that anyone can get arrested for raising their voice," said Suresh Nautiyal of the Uttarakhand Journalists Forum. "Why Hemchandra, anyone of us can be shot dead. It is conformism which is ruling the roost. In this generation, most journalists try to avoid leg-work themselves and willingly settle for low-standard, convenient reporting while views expressed by correspondents from small-scale publications have lesser reach and are taken lightly. However, they are often the only truth being told." 

"In such a scenario, communicating the right information to the larger public is even more important so that correct opinion can be mobilised. Pandey's killing symbolises a much larger struggle," he stressed.

Poet Neelabh agreed that the rich and the powerful do not care about public welfare as they are the ones who also loot the country, snatching natural resources from adivasis and tribals. Yeh goliyan baantne vaali sarkar hai, kheer baantne vaali nahin (This government distributes bullets, not sweet dishes). "Therefore alternative media, as opposed to corporate-driven media, is most crucial at this juncture as one can hope to get the right information only through them," he said. 

He said there should no illusion that they are powerful, and most writers chose to keep silent when the idea of dissent was clubbed as a crime in alignment with Maoists. All dissent is being dubbed as Maoist, so why are writers silent on this. "This is like the witch-hunt in the US during the Cold War," he said.

Poonam Pandey from Navbharat Times said that journalists should deal with the duality within themselves first and become true journalists rather than employees, who mechanically follow orders from bosses. She said there is an "undeclared emergency" inside the heart and minds of journalists, and they seem to be unable to break this ossified realm of internal and external censorship in reporting and writing.