Journalists reporting on stories around the world are in some instances, taking life-threatening risks or worse...being killed while reporting or news gathering.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) says the last three years have been the worst on record for the safety of journalists covering news in many parts of the world.
There are currently more than 220 journalists in prison. In 2014, 61 journalists were killed and 21 have already been killed in 2015., according to the CPJ.
Press Uncuffedis a campaign to raise awareness of imprisoned journalists and help set them free. It’s the brainchild of students at the University of Maryland and their professor, Dana Priest, Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporter, and the John S. and James L. Knight Chair in Public Affairs Journalism at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland.
Priest spoke with WGBH Morning Edition Producer Marilyn Schairer and says, “It has to do a lot with countries moving backwards in terms of democracy. We know there’s a big link between free countries, democracy self-government and information. A lot of the countries, such as the Middle East, some of them that went through the Arab Spring have now gone many steps backward and are under authoritarian governments again, including Russia, and former Soviet Union states, which is trying to control information.”
Boston’s Aggressive Media Keeps Information Flowing
Priest says in Boston has some of the most informed citizens in the country thanks to the tradition of the aggressive media. Journalists are being imprisoned, kidnapped and killed…the most since the Cold War ended 25 years ago.
James Foley, an American journalist who went missing in Syria, was killed in August 2014 by the Islamic State, a militant group formerly known as ISIS.
In October 2014, Joe Bergantino, of the New England Center For Investigative Reportingand a WGBH partner, was detained last year while lecturing in Russia. He was later released after briefly being detained by an immigration judge for violating the country’s visa laws.
Charlie Sennott, WGBH Contributor and Co-founder of Global Post, and Director of the The Ground Truth Project at WGBH, has worked extensively with journalists covering stories in war zones on safety issues.
As part of it's campaign to free journalist, bracelets made of clear acrylic, a reminder of the importance of transparency of information, are being sold to benefit the Committee.
To listen to the entire interview with Dana Priest and WGBH's Marilyn Schairer click on the audio file above.
