Midterm essay

Allie Fernandes
Mr. Twining
Journalism A6
23 January 2009
High Stake Journalism
Journalism is one of the most important and most dangerous careers a person could consider. They put their lives at risk to report truths that others may not want released. They are often threatened, killed or imprisoned while trying to do just that. Some places in the world are more hostile towards journalists than other places, based on the type of government or the type of news reported there. Journalists and their crews are fearless enough to go into war zones or to criticize governments, knowing fully well that they may die or be sent to prison if discovered. Journalists are often killed or imprisoned for doing their job of telling the absolute truth.
As of December 1, 2008, 125 journalists were imprisoned worldwide. The country with the highest total of imprisoned journalists is China with a shocking 28 imprisoned journalists. The longest serving of these journalists is Lin Youping who, along with Chen Renjie and Chen Biling, wrote and published the Ziyou Bao (Freedom Report). Three hundred of these pamphlets were passed out in fall of 1982. Less than a year later they were arrested for publishing something that was said to be counterrevolutionary. Biling was sentenced to death while the other two were sentenced to life in prison. It is said that Renjie has been released but there is little else to be found about him or Youping. In 2000, a freelance journalist by the name of Xu Zerong was imprisoned in China and given 13 years. He is said to have leaked official state records but it is believed by many that his only crime was in revealing the Chinese Communist Party’s support for a Malaysian insurgency; an act warranted by his career choice. In a Communist country such as China, the risks taken by journalists to inform the masses is dangerous in that it often leads to imprisonment or death.
Although it has been less than a month from the start of 2009, a journalist has already been killed in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. A 22-year-old cameraman for the Palestinian Media and Communication Company named Basil Ibrahim Faraj and his four-person crew had just finished shooting an interview near Al-Wa’d Association for Prisoners when the building was attacked. Faraj was fatally wounded when shrapnel and debris hit him during the attack on Gaza. The other three members of the crew were injured but managed to survive. They had been on assignment when they conducted the interview. Despite the few journalists actually killed, it is highly likely that there have been other close calls such as those for the crew of Faraj who were wounded by the shrapnel. The violence in Gaza makes reporting the news there incredibly dangerous for the journalists trying to report it.
Russia has been known to react to journalists in a very hostile manner. They often limit the publication of any party other than United Russia. By the end of 2008, Putin’s government also had at least three journalists imprisoned for criticizing the government. Two other journalists known to criticize Putin had also mysteriously committed suicide though it is doubtful that that is truly the case. Numerous groups or media outlets against the government have been closed entirely by Putin’s government. Many journalists gave into the pressure and simply began to report things better reacted to by the Russian government but those who did not have had to suffer the consequences. In a high-profile case, three well known journalists were murdered in for being a part of a publication known for its independent reporting. Any type of critique on government can lead to the journalist’s death or imprisonment in Russia.
Communist countries and war zones are not the only places where journalists face problems. While it is not as common an occurrence as in other parts of the world, here in the United States journalists have been threatened and attacked for reporting the news. Chauncey Bailey, editor-in-chief of the Oakland Post was shot and killed in 2007. Bailey was targeted after he investigated reports of illegal activity from a local business. In the United States, it is often said that the media is the fourth branch of government because it keeps the other three branches in line. Leonard Pitts Jr. of the Miami Herald tried to keep the media itself in line by writing an article about media bias, leading to phone calls threatening his life. If a journalist does not reveal their source, they can also go to jail, a common occurrence and one well known by those who followed the case of Jim Taricani, a Providence reporter given six months of home confinement for not divulging his source. While it may not be as physically dangerous to report the news in the United States, it is still a risky environment in which to report the news.
Journalists are an indispensable part of society and they take the responsibility of their jobs seriously. Journalists have the responsibility to report the news and many do so even when it places their lives in peril. They defy those who wish for the information to remain private and inform people everywhere of what is truly occurring in the world. There are many places where the government attempts to silence the journalists due to the negative light they may then be seen in based on the reports. Journalists risk everything to report the news the way it should be reported and for that they should be commended.