Global Media: Is the Pen Still Mightier Than the Sword? the Plight And Protection of Journalists

Journalists worldwide face grave dangers when they expose societal ills and injustice. Currently, there are 454 journalists in exile and 26 have been killed already this year. The United Nations and other organizations are taking action to protect the rights of journalists whose lives are threatened as their mighty pens battle mighty swords.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is a New York-based non-profit organization founded in 1982 to promote international press freedom and journalist’s rights. Robert Mahoney, Deputy Director of CPJ, told MediaGlobal , “Most journalists are targeted. They aren’t caught in a cross fire. They’re killed intentionally. It’s a form of censorship which is exercised by powerful people, whether officials or criminal gangs, to silence journalists.”

Ensuring the safety of journalists is essential in countries of the global south. Reports by press personnel on the ground are important to democracy and instrumental in rooting out corruption. With their news coverage, attention is drawn to critical areas of societal infrastructure, including economic development and environmental issues that may be overlooked by privately funded media or other governmental organizations.

Journalists are often targets of violent crime because their work exposes violations in the international codes and protocol of human rights. Professor Jay Shelledy, Greer Chair of Media Ethics at Louisiana State University’s Manship School of Mass Communication, told MediaGlobal, “The press is designed to be an alternative voice to established power. If they aren’t protected, then you don’t have an alternative voice to government.”

When analyzing the role of journalists with respect to investigating inequality, indigenous populations are especially important. Language barriers could prevent leaders of indigenous groups from having their voice heard. Journalists are trained neutral parties that investigate their circumstances. Their reports can serve as a basis when advocating for the needs and rights of indigenous people. Journalists often serve as intermediaries between indigenous groups and aid organizations or political powers.

In rural areas, remote access to mass communication mediums such as the internet is at best unreliable, and at worst non-existent. Though cell phone use may be accessible, there must be a mechanism to disseminate large amounts of information to the global community.

Media representatives and journalists are the conduits that funnel information from isolated areas to the mainstream culture. Without them, communities in these remote areas will be unheard. Aid that may be needed to provide health care, water, food, and other resources to these individuals won’t be affectively distributed if information on these parts of the world isn’t presented to the global network.

To highlight the efforts of courageous journalists across the globe, CPJ hosts an annual award dinner that bestows the International Press Freedom Award on four journalists who have succeeded in providing news coverage under extenuating circumstances. These awards demonstrate that the rest of the world is surveying the abuses of human rights, ethics, and violations that are taking place across the globe. Mahoney told MediaGlobal, “We must enlist support of government and insist that the disapproval of authoritarian governments handling of the press is universal.”

While laws exist to defend freedom of expression across the world, these laws aren’t always abided by. Shelledy mused, “International law is the law that the wicked don’t follow and the righteous don’t enforce.” Developing a global partnership for development is a Millennium Development Goal that will be reached in part by the work of journalists partnering to report on the progress of development across the world.

Organizations such as the International Federation of Journalists, Reporters Without Borders, and the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) strive to safeguard journalists from persecution, and particularly physical harm. Journalists work to call attention to global tragedies and concerns that affect people in areas across the world. Conversely, the world must work to attend to their safety and security to uphold the freedom of expression for all.

-September 03, 2010 by Eryn Bailey

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Source: www.mediaglobal.org/article/2010-09-03/is_the_pen_still_mightier_than_the_sword_the_plight_and_protection_of_journalists  (accessed on 06.09.2010)