I GIVE MEDIA FREEDOM A VOICE

I HAVE always wanted to be a journalist for as long as I can remember. Even during the incredibly trying times we face; a world facing the greatest public health crisis in living memory and an industry unimaginably disrupted by a combination of both an economic pandemic and a technological revolution, that passion has never waned.

We have all had to make personal sacrifices during this time. Journalism is unrecognisable from when I began my career 20 years ago; there are far fewer of us for a start, we actually get paid less too, but for those of us that remain one thing is still the same – the need to tell the story.

I wouldn’t do it if I couldn’t do it properly.

Doing it properly means telling every side but not taking sides in the process. Doing it properly means being fair, observing the rules of our craft not by the letter but by the spirit. Doing it properly means never being afraid in the face of adversity, speaking truth to power – irrespective of the faction.

My staff and I have lived through a lot of adversity, but here at the Saturday Star, we have never compromised on the basic tenets of our profession. Media Freedom Day for me is an opportunity to recommit myself to the pledge I made when I first picked up a notebook, to honour the trust our readers place in us, to be worthy of the legacy of the giants of the industry who went before me and, as editor, to inspire in turn those who come after me.

That commitment has never been more important than it is right now at this juncture in our country and in the world at large.