Another dead journalist

Asking difficult questions can be dangerous

This week, a Russian investigative journalist died after a mysterious fall from his apartment balcony. Maybe he jumped; maybe he was pushed.

Also this week, a reporter in Liberia was murdered, his body tossed out of a vehicle in front of his house in the middle of the night, according to the International Federation of Journalists.

Last month, the IFJ says a newspaper editor in Pakistan was killed in a targeted shooting on his way home from work.

Also in March, two journalists and their driver were kidnapped and murdered in Colombia, and another gunned down in his home in Mexico.

The month before that, in February, two Slovakian investigative reporters were found murdered. The same month, two journalists were found dead in Guatemala. They had been tortured. In January, a columnist in Mexico was shot dead after writing a column denouncing the lack of criminals being brought to justice.

The same month, a journalist in Brazil was shot dead in his home by two gunmen.

Many other journalists were killed in the last few months while doing their jobs — these ones were killed for doing their jobs.

Journalism is a dangerous business, to be sure. Reporters, editors, photographers, camera operators, producers, drivers, translators, correspondents get caught in the crossfire, hit by shrapnel, blown up by bombs, shot during battles, beaten during riots, killed during airstrikes ...

They accept the danger — some even thrive on it — and indeed walk toward trouble when many are fleeing it.

But others, like some of those above, are just pursuing stories the old-fashioned way: being curious, asking questions, poking at things that don’t look quite right. Many are mothers and fathers, wives and husbands, sons and daughters.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, of the 1,285 journalists killed around the world since 1992, 822 were murdered.

That’s what you get for writing stories about corruption in the public and private sectors, asking uncomfortable questions of those in power, and generally making a nuisance of yourself around those who feel they are above it.

And it’s why each May 3, we celebrate World Press Freedom Day around the world, proclaimed by the UN General Assembly 25 years ago.

It’s not just about paying tribute to those who have lost their lives in the line of duty, but doing whatever we can to condemn and prevent the kinds of deaths described above. It’s about reflecting on how we ourselves behave as journalists — are we ethical, transparent, fair enough?

And it’s about reminding everyone that journalism plays a role not just in democracies, but anywhere justice is overlooked or forgotten.

It’s shocking that we still need to be reminded of the need for press freedom, maybe more than ever, not only in dangerous places such as Mexico or Russia or Liberia, but here in Canada and the United States, where politicians are increasingly attacking journalists because they don’t like what’s being reported — and because they think they can.