The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: Senior journalist K.S. Sachidananda Murthy, who served as the resident editor of The Week and the Malayala Manorama daily in Delhi, passed away in Bengaluru on Friday, October 13. He was 68.
‘Sachi’, as he was widely known in journalist circles, had a four-decade-long career in journalism and most of which was spent in Malayala Manorama Group and in The Week magazine. Before that, he had a stint with The Indian Express.
He had also served as the secretary general of the Editors Guild of India and chairman of the Lok Sabha Press Advisory Committee. He also held a stint as a member of the Central Press Accreditation Committee and the Press Council of India.
Malayala Manorama ran Murthy’s popular political column Desheeyam (originally called New Delhi) on its edit pages for three decades.
A native of Kolar in Karnataka, Murthy was a recipient of the Karnataka Media Academy Award for lifetime contribution to journalism. He has covered multiple overseas visits of presidents and prime ministers. “Sachidananda Murthy was among the few Kannadiga journalists active in the national capital media circles,” said Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah.
Before he breathed his last, Murthy was recovering from a recent lung transplant surgery in the city. He is survived by his wife and two sons.
Writing in the Indian Express, journalist Debashish Mukerji traces Murthy’s professional trajectory from being a correspondent in Bangalore to a widely known and highly regarded journalist in the national capital.
“I found he knew everyone who mattered in the capital, across political parties, the bureaucracy and diplomatic circles. Correspondents of regional publications in Delhi often restrict themselves largely to politicians from their own state, who know their publications’ worth, finding access challenging to those from other regions, who often may not have heard of the publications they represent. But Sachi’s network went way beyond Kerala politicians (or for that matter, those from Karnataka, his home state), embracing key players across the aisle,” writes Mukherji, who worked under Murthy whilst he was at Malayala Manorama.
He further remembers Murthy as someone who rarely made political predictions, but whenever he did, he got them right. “Let me stress that describing Sachi as a purely political animal would be doing him a disservice. I was often struck by the sheer range of his other interests, though he rarely wrote about them, which included movies, food, travel, mythology and music,” writes Mukherji.
In a statement, the Editors Guild of India said, “EGI deeply condoles the passing away of senior journalist and former General Secretary of the Guild, Mr. Sachidananda Murthy (Sachi). He was a pillar of strength for the Guild and an inspiration for all journalists. Sachi will be dearly missed by all his colleagues and friends.
The Press Club of India remembered him in a statement, “He shaped generations of reporters & his guidance was readily available to all. His charming ways easily won everyone. We all will miss him sorely. PCI pays its humble tributes to him and prays for eternal peace to his departed soul. Thank You Sachi for being part of our lives.”