The INSIDER EXCLUSIVE INVESTIGATIVE TV Series salutes Jim Foley, one of Americas bravest and brightest news journalists who sought out the truth and reported it to the world. Last year, nearly 100 died and more than 1,000 since 1992, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Bearing witness … whether journalists are covering a distant land or their native soil, the root of their calling is to record the world around them, to ask questions, to expose what others would prefer to keep hidden. Why do we do it? And why should anyone care that we do? Journalists are a proxy for citizens. They ask the questions and seek the answers on behalf of citizens. They are also proxies for the threats to citizens. If there is a despot’s handbook, the first page must say: Menace and silence the journalists and the citizens will get the message. Don’t talk back. Don’t fight. Don’t challenge. Submit. Across the world, journalists are not submitting. They fight for the right to freely chronicle the actions of the powerful and the humble. Is that a lonely fight? It must be. But it need not be. We owe them our support, our attention. The attention of our audiences. Because indifference only empowers the killers. Indifference. The drumbeat of death being met with a collective shrug. You’ve seen it. News journalists report on the cleansing power of the truth. Remember them, and what they stand for. Remember them, every time you pick up a newspaper, turn on a newscast, watch a live video from somewhere. Remember them every time you pick up your phone. Remember them. Whisper a quiet word of gratitude. And vow that you will never forget what they have sacrificed and why.
Posted on: Mon, 25 Aug 2014 03:57:09 +0000