Great Loss to the Media World

COMMUNICATION

I am sorry to learn that the veteran journalist and media critic, G.S. Bhargava, passed away on September 22. It is a great loss to the Indian media world. I had been an avid reader of his writings in Mainstream and his Sunday column “Blue Pencil†in The Pioneer when Vinod Meta was its editor. The Editor’s Guild in a statement had aptly summed up his contributions thus: “The Blue Pencil column was looked forward to by journalists with both eagerness and uneasiness, as he was fair, but strict on the norms of journalism and writing skills.â€

I had the privilege of knowing him when he was the resident editor of The Indian Express at Hyderabad. The Administrative Staff College of India used to invite him as a guest speaker for the general management courses. The last time I met him was, if memory serves me right, at the end of the 1980s when he visited the Eenadu office to collect some material available in its library.

He was a prolific writer and authored more than 20 books. Many of them deal with incisive and objective analysis of the Indian media scene.

Through Mainstream, I convey my deepest condolences to the bereaved family.

A.K. Dasgupta

A 203 San Remo Apartments

Masab Tank, Hyderabad 500 028

Phone: 66664498 (R)

E-mail: arunkantid@yahoo.co.in