It's been a bloody week for journalism in Iraq. The Washington Post lost a reporter who worked in its Baghdad bureau. (Check out this moving tribute from his colleagues.) And an Iraqi newspaper lost three employees in an ambush.
The Committee to Protect Journalists reports 119 deaths among journalists in Iraq and 41 among support workers. In 2007 alone, 47 have perished.
What does it mean to pay this price to report? When journalists are a target, what else is sacrificed? Press freedom? Security? Information itself? Would you risk your life to tell a story? Are you glad that other people do or do you think it's unnecessary risk-taking? What stories are worth the risk and what stories are not?
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Paying the Ultimate Price
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4 comments:
If you are passionate about something and you feel it is important enough to report on, then dying in that effort would be worth it. Sometimes to get the best story and the truth, journalists have to put themselves at risk and I don't see anything wrong with that. Is it right? Maybe not but I think that it can be worth it. Most things aren't going to be handed to you so you have to go in there and get it. If the story isn't worth it to you, don't take the job or don't be a journalist
I'd have to disagree, I can't think of any story I would die for just so I could inform the public. It would become different if gathering the information would save the people close to me. But sorry America, you won't find me risking my life so you can read a story about it on Tuesday afternoon. There are plenty of other stories I could feel passionate about and not deliberatly risk death. But if someone else wants the job - more power to them.
History is littered with the deaths of those fighting for causes. Yet those in power repeat the mistakes of our ancestors again and again and again. Is that worth dying for? Not to me. I’m grateful there are people willing to fight the fight and report on the fight. I’m definitely not the right person for either job.
Some people really get off on taking risks or being heroic or being a martyr. As journalists are targeted, there will be others who are willing to take their places.
If the war came to my doorstep, I’d be more willing to take up arms. For now, I’ll let others dodge bullets and chase hurricanes.
While I don't know if I could sign up to cover a story that could lead to death, I'm very grateful to the people who do. This is something reporters have been doing for decades and their work greatly impacts their readers. Whether it's the imbedded journalists in Iraq as well as previous wars, the reporters who cover natural disasters or the people who go undercover to get the big story, these journalists are crucial to helping people get the information they should know. Imagine what would be reported about the war in Iraq if there weren't any journalists there? So, while most of us can't imagine sacrificing our lives for a cause, it's still a job that is necessary to encourage free and accurate reporting.
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