An ‘In Memoriam’ advertisement appearing in New Delhi newspapers on September 30, for Soumya Viswanathan, the Headlines Today journalist, who was found murdered in Delhi in 2008, shortly after leaving work for home.
In 2009, United News of India (UNI) reported that Soumya’s employers, TV Today Network, were fined Rs 250 for violating the capital’s working hours. The 26-year-old journalist had left her place of work at 03:02 am, say police, who got word of the incident at 3.41 am.
Also read: What we can learn from The Daily Telegraph
S.D. Rohmetra: founder-editor of Daily Excelsior
Charudatta Deshpande: journalist turned corp comm manager
Sivanthi Adityan: editor of Tamil daily, Dina Thanthi
Alfred D’ Cruz: TOI‘s first Indian sub-editor
Tarun Sehrwat, 22 and killed in the line of duty
Chari, a lens legend at The Hindu
Harishchandra Lachke: A pioneering cartoonist
T.N. Shanbag: Man who educated Bombay journos
Rajan Bala: cricket writer of cricket writers
Jyoti Sanyal: The language terrorist and teacher
Russy Karanjia: The bulldog of an editor
Sabina Sehgal Saikia: The resident food writer
M.G. Moinuddin: The self-taught newspaper designer
Naresh Chandra Rajkhowa: Journo who broke Dalai Lama story
J. Dey: When eagles are silent, parrots jabber
E. Raghavan: Ex-ET, TOI, Vijaya Karnataka editor
Prakash Kardaley: When god cries when the best arrive
Pratima Puri: India’s first TV news reader passes away
Tejeshwar Singh: A baritone falls silent watching the cacophony
N.S. Jagannathan: Ex-editor of Indian Express
K.M. Mathew: chief of editor of Malayala Manorama
Amita Malik: the ‘first lady of Indian media’
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K.R. Prahlad: In the end, death becomes a one-liner
IJR 
Tragic. Just to share, quite coincidentally, I mentioned her yesterday to a class on gender and the media I take at Journalism Mentor. It was in the context of how the media and society view women who work odd hours or are employed in ‘unconventional’ work and Sheila Dixit’s infamous comment after hearing the news of her death!
(http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2008-10-03/delhi/27932960_1_home-minister-sheila-dikshit-law-and-order)
Sure, one can take a cynical view of Ms. Dixit’s statement. But her statement was quite realistic.
The fact is that late nights are an unconventional work hour, and youngsters, both male and female, do sometimes view it as an ‘adventurous’ experience. (Of course, then they get married, have kids and curse their boss and company every time they have to work late :).
Some, like you, might perceive this as a gender issue. I feel it is a gross generalization.
Yes, in a male dominated society, woman working late or unconventional jobs are perceived differently. But in both the media high-lighted Delhi and Mumbai gang-rape case, the victim was accompanied by a male. Did it prevent the accused from raping her?
As a guy, I too have sometimes felt moments of insecurity, even in familiar cities, when I return home late alone. Especially if I have to walk.
Let us not live in a utopian fantasy. In a country with a billion people, we are bound to have more violent nut cases. Everyone needs to be practical and accept this reality about our society and take due precautions.
Poignant!This in memoriam advertisement is the defining metaphor for the Indian media today.Further,I was attending a conference in Mumbai, 2 years after 26/11,and sure enough, the organizers missed out on even the obligatory (symbolic) minute of silence!On being reminded about the significance of the second anniversary,the organizers reluctantly acquiesced to the request for remembrance.We do have short,and often ruthless memories!
I find all these arguments bogus. What is so great about journalists to be remembered? Do we remember the bus drivers, call centre employees, doctors, engineers, teachers, bankers etc?
Does Canara Bank remember it s employees who died a tragic death? Certainly not.
What is so great about journalists? It is one of the thousand jobs.