Don’t Shoot The Messenger — Please!
The killings and imprisonment of journalists around the world is being fueled by a combination of hate and fear. The hate for truth. The fear of facts. And while the level of attacks here in America has not reached the level of so many other countries, it is rising rapidly. The possibility of worse attacks cannot be dismissed which is why several members of Congress have introduced a bill to protect journalists.
In addition to the 67 journalists killed, the report by the International Federation of Journalists cites another “at least” 375 journalists and ‘media workers’ behind bars. In both cases, the numbers are near record highs.
Maybe not surprisingly, the war in Ukraine accounted for most of the deaths (12). The second highest number of killings occurred in Mexico (11) where there’s an ongoing ‘drug war.’ Also, maybe not surprisingly, China, and what the report calls “its allies in Hong Kong,” accounted for most of the arrests (84) with the Myanmar regime next (64). Russia “and occupied Crimea” imprisoned 29 journalists.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF.org) puts the number of journalists and ‘media workers’ killed in 2022 slightly lower at 58 and the number of imprisoned also lower at 289. However, this report shows a significantly higher total number in prison (532). The difference may be that RSF only counts those whose murder or arrest are directly associated with their journalistic activity.
Probably the most infamous killing was that of American-Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. Her news organization, the Qatar-based Al Jazeera, has called on the International Criminal Court to investigate her death as well as the attacks of other journalists in Palestine. Al Jazeera claims the Israelis are targeting their journalists.
The Washington Post, reporting on the IFJ numbers, named specifically the two journalists and ‘media worker’ killed near Kyiv along with the lone American journalist killed, Las Vegas investigative reporter Jeff German.
The International Foreign Journalists association held a Global Congress in Oman earlier this year in which it adopted a 22-point resolution calling for the “safety and independence of journalists and other media professionals.” The preamble to the document says that everyone’s freedom of opinion and express is critical to the progress and development of a democratic society and that journalists play a key role in that process.
In the United States, a bill titled the Journalist Protection Act has been introduced in Congress that would give working journalists protection while they are in the actual process of gathering news. Anybody who causes “bodily injury” to a journalist could be sentenced up to three years in prison and/ or fined. Anybody who causes “serious bodily injury” could be sentenced up to six years in prison and/ or fined.
The proposal was introduced in both the House of Representatives with an accompanying bill in the Senate in July of last year. It was referred to the subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security last month in the House. No further action has taken place in the Senate.
Its sponsor in the Senate is Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut with Robert Menendez of New Jersey as co-sponsor. Both are Democrats. Its primary sponsor in the House of Representatives is Eric Swalwell of California. It has 13 co-sponsors. All of them Democrats.
