‘Guardians of Truth’
According to Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the number of journalists killed around the world just because of their work had nearly doubled to at least 34 people in 2018. In 2017, the recorded number was 18. The jump this year reflected the killing of 10 reporters in Afghanistan, and four slain in a June attack at Maryland’s ‘Capital Gazette’ newspaper.
Overall, 53 journalists died on the job worldwide from Jan 1 to Dec 14 – including those killed inadvertently in combat or on other dangerous assignments.
This represented a 13 per cent increase from 47 deaths in 2017, reported CPJ – a US non-profit organisation that promotes press freedom. It is said that 62 per cent of the journalists killed covered politics – making it the ‘most dangerous beat’.
CPJ also reported a near-record number of journalists around the world are in prison in 2018 because of their work – including the two Reuters reporters who are still being detained in Myanmar.
On Dec 11, the Time magazine named Khashoggi, Philippine journalist Maria Ressa, the Myanmarimprisoned Reuters reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, and the staff of Maryland’s ‘Capital Gazette’, as its collective ‘Person of the Year’.
The magazine, which has been awarding the ‘Person of the Year’ title since 1927, even published four different covers for that week’s edition, each honouring different honourees – all of whom are regarded as ‘the guardians of the truth’.
It was the first time for Time that someone was chosen posthumously for the prestigious cover.