Reporter Chase Cook of the Capital Gazette tweeted: “I can tell you this: We are putting out a damn paper tomorrow.”
Today, Chase’s colleagues were attacked by a gunman. Five people were killed. Several injured, many gravely so.
This article is not about the shooting. After the flurry of clickbaiters that seek to write blog posts and news articles about the massacre-of-the-week, I want to instead focus on the victims, and the environment people like them inhabit.
Journalists are heroes.
Police are heroes because they uphold the law.
Firemen are heroes because they save lives.
Doctors are heroes for the same reason.
Soldiers are heroes for fighting for our freedoms.
Journalists are heroes because they’re dedicated to exposing the truth, sharing the information with the populous, and holding people accountable for their actions. For educating the people. For raising awareness.
Are they perfect? No.
Are they unbiased? Nobody is.
Are they needed? More than ever.
A free and open press is a staple of American values. The FIRST Amendment, being the FIRST one the framers put into the Bill of Rights, states:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
This constant war that the country seems to be fighting in, of biases, of political alignment and the swarm of “Fake News” types. Thanks to the political swarm of people so quick to cry out “Fake News!” whenever they hear something they don’t like, or something that contradicts their beliefs, faith in our press is sinking.
The Left overwhelms bias in our colleges and social media.
The Right overwhelms bias in our mainstream media outlets.
The Left are quick to react, making knee-jerk reactions and assuming everything is Trump’s fault. They’re quick to aggression, defensive and so passionate that some vital context can at times, fall through the cracks.
The Right are manipulative, twisting click-bait titles and forcing unfounded concepts into a poorly-made cookie-cutter mold that resembles real news. They’ll sell you “whataboutism” and deflect all criticism away from their political leaders, burying the facts.
Each of them spend so much time pointing fingers at the other, that the actual efforts to repair the damaged public opinion of the news media tend to fall on deaf ears. People are too partisan, too rooted in their confirmation biases to fight for truth and reality.
The reality is.
Our press is under attack.
The administration in power discredits news outlets in an effort to improve his own optics. Radicals use the media and manipulate the information to suit their means, and when it doesn’t… it’s je suis Charlie all over again.
What happened today was not caused by what the President says.
It may not have helped, but it was most likely not a political statement.
No, instead, this was revenge for reporting the news. This was revenge for someone saying the truth, and a particular madman did not agree with them, and did not like what they had to say.
Sound familiar?
A mobster who puts a hit on a journalist who puts out an organized crime article, is no different from a madman who puts bullets into a newspaper’s office. From free speech and humor being attacked at Charlie Hebdo in 2015, to last month’s Russian Journalist in Ukraine faking his own death to thwart his own Russian government-ordered assassination.
In January, 2001, Feng Zhaoxia was murdered by gang members. Left with a slashed throat in a ditch in Xi’an, China.
In October, 2001, several media members were targeted in anthrax attacks. Robert Stevens died.
In December, 2001, Brignol Lindor was attacked and killed by a machete-wielding mob of people who opposed his political reporting.
In January, 2006, Jill Carroll was taken captive in Iraq.
In August, 2007, Chauncey Bailey was murdered by the subject of his reporting.
In August, 2008, Amanda Lindhout and her photographer were taken prisoner by terrorists in Mogadishu and held for 480 days.
In October, 2008, Mellissa Fung was taken prisoner by a small terror sect.
In November, 2012, James Foley was kidnapped. He was held captive, until he was beheaded by Daesh, in 2014.
In March, 2014, Dimitar Kenarov was held captive for reporting on the Russian invasion of Crimea.
In May of last year, Javier Valdez reported on victims of violence in Mexico. He was shot in broad daylight.
In December of this year, Wa Lone, and Kyaw Soe Oo were detained by the Myanmar government for violating “the country’s Official Secrets Act”. They are still prisoners.
In May of this year, TEN Afghan Reporters were killed for reporting on terror.
Reporters face alienating themselves, their loved ones, putting their very lives on the table.
Many don’t make it out.
Being a reporter is one of, if not the occupation most targeted by acts of violent retribution or other violent acts.
Sure, there’s Pam with the evening news, talking about the boring infrastructure project that you couldn’t care less about. But maybe Pam uncovers an illegal construction scandal that sees her life ruined by an act of violence.
Journalists risk everything to do their jobs. Some may not know it. Some won’t know until it happens. But we need to keep in mind that their job is to look for sources, and report information they find. Of course, they might be wrong. They might be biased.
Everybody is.
They put in their due diligence to put something out there that they need to share.
They are human and prone to bad choices and mistakes.
What’s important to do, is to remember that, and follow up with news you read. News, information… there’s so much of it these days that people dismiss it and grow fatigued.
Those are often the types of people to fall for the “Fake News” kitsch.
The only way to truly distill the impurities out of the media, isn’t to bash them. It’s not to attack them with your twitter account, or with a weapon.
It’s to do your own digging. Become a bit of a journalist yourself. Read different sources. Investigate what intrigues you. If you have a question, seek the answer. Don’t wait for someone else to make your truth. Instead, forge your own.
(Let me direct the next few lines at a particular person living in a big white house in DC.)
And if you’re the subject of some reporting that might be less-than-flattering.
Maybe…. JUST MAYBE… you might deserve it.
If you truly don’t, the facts will support you. If you do deserve it, and the facts do not support you, don’t bitch about it… own it.
Don’t deflect.
Attack the reporters all you want. There is nothing in this world you could say to them can beat what has happened to others.
Nothing you say will ever be more terrifying than what happened to those reporters I talked about before.
Nothing more terrifying than what happened to those Maryland reporters of the Capital Gazette yesterday.
Those reporters who were targeted, hunted down, shot, and killed.
Attack them all you want. They won’t stop reporting. They won’t stop.
If this doesn’t scare them, nothing will.
Reporter Chase Cook of the Capital Gazette tweeted: “I can tell you this: We are putting out a damn paper tomorrow.”
-T
A note to the Journalists out there:
I respect the hell out of you all. Never stop reporting. You are the greatest weapon against injustice we the people have. Our First Amendment must remain first.
Thank you, Journalists. Thank you.
Casualstraightjacket 