Kelly-vison: Reflections on Journalism

A condition for open press is respect for journalist protection. The film adaptation of the murder of the Balibo Five in East Timor suggests that the death of journalists is a sufficiently sparse phenomenon to warrant attention. The fact that I remember the 2006 murder of Anna Politkovskaya demonstrates that journalist deaths have a certain impact superceding general homicide. There aren’t many things government can do, short of eliminating reporters in order to restrict press freedoms. Consider PEN International’s report on restrictions placed upon writers and journalists in China. PEN International is an international humanitarian organization campaigning for press freedoms and writers’ protections. It boasts a presidential list that reads like a who’s-who of 20th century literature; (Maurice Maeterlinck, Arthur Miller, Mario Vargas Llosa and Imperial alumnus H. G. Wells, to name but a few. Current active members/supporters include Salman Rushdie and Margaret Atwood. The report, released on World Press Freedom Day, is a brief summary of coercive practices adopted by the Chinese government to force consent on writers and reporters. Ai Weiwei and Liu Xiaobo come to mind as victims of these practices. The report describes cases of illegal imprisonment and torture used against dissident writers and activists. China is not the only guilty party in this respect. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an organization that campaigns for press freedoms journalist-related crime, has recently released a damning report on the Obama administration’s alleged attempts to curtail the more subversive or investigative elements of the press. The surprising thing that comes to light is the repeated assertion by journalists that the administration is closed and secretive, on par with the Bush administration. We shouldn’t negate the threat to journalists’ lives all over the globe. Russia has been notorious for the mortality rate of its journalists. There are many journalists whose deaths go unreported. Mick Deane, Sky News Cameraman, was one of 39 journalists killed this year given coverage in the British media. This is why the ’innovative approach’ that Belgian security officers have taken to arrest Somali pirate leader Mohamed Abdi Hassan is disturbing. Effective as this operation may have been in arresting leaders of organized crime, it demonstrates a lack of foresight and disturbing ‘gung-ho’ attitude on the part of security officials. This has, according to a CPJ report, endangered the lives of reporters working in Somalia. With 2012 being the deadliest year for reporters in Somalia on record, I hope 2013 remains uneventful.