August 13, 2004/Av 26 5763, Vol. 55, No. 47
Journalists in harm's wayBARRY KLUGERI am a columnist. I write opinions. I am not a reporter. Reporters have beats. Reporters do research. Reporters investigate. Reporters get brutally murdered.It's open season for journalists. There's no license required, no seasonal fee, and it's highly likely that neither public opinion nor government action will protect them. Ultimately, it is up to the reporters. Israel long has taken a "we will not negotiate with terrorists" stance. Today negotiation with terrorist groups is happening through the media. In 1973, Arizona Republic reporter Don Bolles was murdered for getting too close to a story. It was a typical mob hit, but the response was anything but typical. Dozens of reporters camped out in Phoenix and did their own investigation of the murder. The overriding message: The pen is mightier than the sword. Thirty years later, mobs are ruling in Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the former Soviet Union, and they don't play by conventional rules. They are TV, Internet and public relations savvy. They influence, shape, mold and spit in the face of public opinion. They use the pen as their sword. In 2002, Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was beheaded in Pakistan for getting too close to a story. Just weeks ago, Forbes Russia editor Paul Klebnikov was gunned down on a Moscow street because he had gotten too close to the truth. The United States itself is experiencing acts of lawlessness in a basically civilized society. Much of the world outside the United States is not civilized, and while we expect soldiers to put their lives on the line, are we expecting that of the truth seekers? While no one in his right mind would risk making his wife a widow or his children orphans, journalists put themselves in harm's way when they travel to lawless countries in search of the story. The unprecedented rise in violence has not deterred their pursuit of truth. Can we guarantee they will come home, not like Pearl or Klebnikov, but alive? We all want to know the inside story. We watch the beheadings and then change the channel to "Joe Millionaire." We watch what is happening in an unsafe world from the safety of our homes. If a journalist is decapitated and no one is there to witness it, does it make a sound? If we don't report gratuitous violence, do we discourage it? Is it time to call our media off the story and see how the extremists cope with no world opinion? By rejecting feeds from Al-Jazeera, by not giving terrorists airtime on CNN, and by refusing to send journalists into dangerous countries, we rob the thugs of their 15 minutes of fame. Daniel Pearl, Paul Klebnikov and Don Bolles learned the hard way that the truth doesn't always set ye free; it sometimes gets ye killed. Barry Kluger is managing partner of Kluger Media Group and a local columnist. Reach him at barry@barrykluger.com. |
