I had an interesting discussion in class the other day with Professor Armao about whether or not I would be willing to die for journalism. We discussed the names of some journalists who did die in the sake of providing news and their beliefs and how journalism differed between the U.S. and other countries throughout the world.
In countries like North Korea and China, the media is censored by the government. The government decides what goes into the news and what gets left out. Sites like CPJ.org keep us up to date about the issues journalists have faced throughout the world including facing injustice, death or jail time just for reporting the facts in other countries. These organisations fight for the rights and freedoms of these journalists in other countries. On April 8, CPJ.org had reported that Matthew VanDyke, an American journalist, had been missing since reporting the news in Libya. Sadly, reports like this are common.
I thought about it, if I was willing to die for journalism. I think yes and no. If my reporting was promised to make a huge difference and save many lives from harm, then I would be willing to die for it, but at the same time I don’t know what it’s like to be in that situation so I can’t say for sure what I would do if the opportunity would present itself.
