Press not safe in N. America either
“On World Press Freedom Day 2018, I call on governments to strengthen press freedom, and to protect journalists. Promoting a free press is standing up for our right to truth.” — Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary-General In 1993, the United Nations declared May 3 as World Press Freedom Day, an annual date to evaluate the state of media in each country — and to honour journalists who lost their lives in the line of duty.
A May report card indicated that in the previous 16 months, more than 100 journalists and media staff were murdered or killed around the world. Many died in war zones such as Afghanistan or Syria. Others, such as in Russia, did not. The number of journalists arrested in that period number in the hundreds, with Turkey, China and Egypt among the worst offenders.
Following last week’s carnage in an Annapolis, Md., newspaper, the message by the secretary general has added relevance in in the U.S. and Canada. Add five more journalists and media staff to the list of dead after a man went on a shooting rampage at the Capital Gazette.
A Maryland man faces five counts of firstdegree murder after he shot his way into the newsroom where he “looked for his victims.”
The suspect has a history of harassing journalists after the Gazette reported on his criminal harassment conviction. The man filed a defamation lawsuit against the newspaper, but it was dismissed because a judge ruled the man hadn’t shown “anything that was published about you is, in fact, false.”
We often hear about police, firefighters and first responders killed in the line of duty — as reported by journalists. But in North America, we rarely hear about reporters or other media staff being gunned down. Newsrooms today must wonder if they are vulnerable. We hope this incident won’t spawn more attacks.
Journalists cover shootings at schools, malls, theatres, casinos and nightclubs; and now they are targets for reporting the news. The danger level has clearly risen. The media is under attack in America, subjected to daily ridicule by U.S. President Donald Trump, who attacks as fake news any reporting he doesn’t like.
Friday, the opinion page of the Gazette was mostly empty, except for a brief message: “This page is intentionally left blank today to commemorate victims of Thursday’s shootings at our office … Tomorrow this page will return to its steady purpose of offering our readers informed opinion about the world around them.”
Journalists everywhere are in solidarity with the Gazette and its staff; especially with the defiant tweet posted Thursday: “Yes, we’re putting out a damn paper tomorrow.”