·TPCC Chief demands incentives for journalists on par with other frontline warriors
·Uttam distributes food grains, essential commodities among scribes in Suryapet
·TPCC Chief asks media to report shortcomings, lapses in Corona relief
Hyderabad, April 22 (Maxim News): TPCC President N. Uttam Kumar Reddy praised role being played by journalists of print, electronic and online media in reporting Coronavirus across globe, including India and Telangana.
Speaking after distributing food grains and essential commodities among 157 print and electronic media journalists in Huzurnagar of Suryapet district on Wednesday, Uttam Kumar Reddy described the media personnel as the frontline warriors in the battle against Coronavirus. He said that the media persons have been risking their health and lives to report the latest happenings related to Coronavirus. He expressed concern over dozens of journalists in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and other parts of the country getting affected with COVID-19 and prayed for their speedy recovery. He appealed to all the journalists to take precautions while venturing out for reporting and to their offices.
Uttam said in view of many journalists testing positive for Coronavirus in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, there has been a suggestion from many senior journalists in Hyderabad for a COVID-19 test for journalists doing field reporting in the State. Therefore, he said should tests should be facilitated for all who opts for it. He also demanded that the media personnel, reporting the pandemic, should be given incentives on the lines of Health, Police and other departments.
“Media organisations have a greater responsibility to highlight the problems of poor and the needy during these times of crisis. COVID-19 pandemic threatens to engulf entire human race in a kind of a crisis that mankind has not seen since 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic. So far, 25.72 lakh people globally appear to have infected and over 1.78 lakh died due to the disease so far. There are very few nations that are not affected by this serious, infectious and respiratory disease. In these times, the suffering of migrant labourers, farmers and other weakers sections of the society need to be highlighted by the media so that the State and Central Governments can take effective remedial measures immediately,” Uttam Kumar Reddy said.
Further, the TPCC Chief said that media needs to enquire into the suspected under-reporting of COVID-19 cases in India and Telangana. “If the media does not typically report the shortcomings and lapses of corona relief measures and agriculture procurements, the authorities may not be aware of the reality on the ground,” he said.
“We perfectly understand the stress and strain of print and electronic media organisations now. With most manufacturing and service companies closing down their operations and the resultant loss of advertising revenue to the media, most of newspapers have reduced the number of pages, which is perfectly understandable in these trying times. However, because of loss of private advertising revenues, media organisations depending on government revenue, they should not allowed themselves to be browbeaten into not reporting shortcomings or lapses in Corona relief measures,” he said.
Uttam said it was highly unfortunate that in Telangana State most of the media organisations were giving huge coverage to the government announcements, but ignoring the responsible role being played by the opposition in both extending relief measures from their end and pointing out shortcomings in government’s relief measures. “It is extremely unfortunate that Chief Minister Chandrashekhar Rao has adopted an aggressive and threatening attitude towards media organisations and targeting journalists who are doing critical reporting of the COVID-19 related issues,” he said.
The TPCC Chief said till today, the State Government did not clarify whether the 12 kgs of rice to White Ration Card holders was given as ration for two months and does it include the 5 kgs of rice announced by Government of India. Further, he said there was no reporting on the other announcements made by the Central Government like 1 kg of pulses each month, 3 LPG cylinders, etc., There is barely any reporting of the fact that Paddy farmers are suffering due to the lack of foresight of Telangana Govt in purchasing gunny bags well ahead of the Rabi paddy crop reaching the procurement centres. Similarly, farmers of other crops such as Turmeric, Sweetlime, etc., are not being reported sufficiently in the media, he said.
He appealed to Congress cadres across Telangana to help the financially weak journalists in whatever way possible. “In this hour of crisis, we also appeal to the Chief Minister that several announcements made in the last few years of hundreds of crores for welfare of journalists may actually be put into utilisation for paying the salaries of journalists of many small media organisations who are not receiving the salaries now,” he demanded. (Maxim News)
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