DD employees serving country like Army jawans, says Rathore
NEW DELHI: Doordarshan employees are serving the country just like Army jawans, Union minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore said Wednesday, while condoling the death of DD News cameraman Achyutanand Sahu in a Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh on October 30.
He was speaking at a condolence meeting for Sahu organised by the Prasar Bharti here.
“There are many media houses, but Doordarshan and DD News are national broadcasters. Just like Army jawans are involved in serving the country, we are also involved in serving the nation.
“We have to cover a lot of difficult domains through our camera or our pen. You have the responsibility of disseminating news to the entire country,” Rathore said.
Slowly, people were getting to know about the kind of difficulties journalists faced to bring news to them, he added.
“He (Sahu) lost his life at a place from where the country’s enemies wished to give a message that they wanted to stop the country from progressing. His family should not feel that they have been left alone,” the information and broadcasting minister said.
Prasar Bharti Chairman A Surya Prakash said journalists were always living on the edge.
“I know of the courage and bravery of our colleagues in DD news when they are out on various assignments. As a person who has been on the field, we journalists are living on the edge. Whether it was Punjab in the 1980s and later Kashmir or going out on our own assignments, it is always a matter of touch and go.
“Anything can happen. It requires a great amount of guts and professionalism to be on the spot and go and do that thing,” he said.
Surya Prakash saluted the “bravery and commitment” of Sahu and his colleagues, who had gone to cover a story about a village that had not voted in the last 20 years.