Is Journalism Dangerous to Your Health?
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
How many of us want to travel (outside of our own state) to cover news stories? The chance to go to a different country would seem like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and many of us would probably jump at it. However, have we stopped to think of the consequences?
If you've looked at the news lately, you've probably noticed that reporters in Mexico are have been "disappearing" or are being murdered. This has been ongoing since 2006, when their new president came to office, Felipe Calderon. A South Carolina newspaper recently ran an article about how reporters in Mexico are being urged to use extra caution. What are they being murdered for?
Reporting on the drug trafficking problems. Since 2000, at least 65 reporters (in various fields) have been murdered, sometimes seemingly at random. This makes Mexico the deadliest country in the world for news people, according to a report from a Utah news station.
To us (or so I'm assuming), reporting on something such as drug trafficking doesn't seem like that big of an issue, but we are sitting a couple thousand miles away from the problem.
So why are journalists being killed for doing their jobs?
This is nothing new, and people have been persecuted over this for years. Do you remember Daniel Pearl who was beheaded over his investigation into Al-Qaeda a few years back? He had traveled to a war-torn country, tried to do his job, and was subsequently killed for doing so.
Would you be willing to travel to a foreign country, is you knew there was a chance you wouldn't be coming back? Do these kind of reports scare you, as a potential reporter, about what could happen? Or does it make you want it that much more? Just because the United States embraces journalists (for the most part), does not necessarily mean that the rest of the world does.
5 comments:
Wow, what an interesting topic to write about. I thought this blog was very fascinating and I'd like to hear more. I was impressed by the way you gave an example of each way journalism can be a dangerous job; it lent to your reliability and made me more interested in the information. Great job!
I liked your style with this blog post--it is very conversational which was a good offset to this heavy topic. I think this topic is something that should be on every journalist's radar; a journalist's job is not easy or safe. It takes a strong person to be able to get past the fear and report to the public on these sensitive and controversial topics. Good topic choice!
A journalist's job is a dangerous job...but every job has potential risks. Firefighters, police officers, advocates for any kind of civil rights, doctors, even business owners all run the risk of going down on the job. I understand the severity to which that might happen will vary, but risks are everywhere in everything we do...we just might not think about them.
I feel like if someone wishes to be a jounralist they need to be aware of what their could potentially get themselves into. It's no picnic. People do die, all the time, on this job. So you do have to ask that question: Is my story worth dying for? If the answer is yes, then God bless those people, because we need them as much as any other self-sacrificing person who is passionate about their job...but that doesn't mean I want them to risk their safety. -Journalists, be safe!
Reporting on matters of drug trafficking is now something TV reporters and journalists are trying to avoid as much as possible to avoid conflict with drug cartels.
With the death of a photojournalist last week,the leading newspaper in Juarez,Mexico published a front-page plea saying "What do you want from us?...Tell us what you expect from us as a newspaper?"
Mexico's press is currently being strongly supressed by drug cartels, thus, TV networks and newspapers are willing to limit their reporting on the drug wars.
My hometown is going through very difficult times and I am hoping this madness will end soon.
I think this is an important issue to be aware of. The thought of being a journalist in certain situations such as you've mentioned has crossed my mind from time to time.
However, like Erin said,"Is my story worth dying for?" If so, then the journalist must be doing something they enjoy.
In my opinion, if you die doing something you love then you have truly lived.
I'd rather die doing something I loved than doing something I absolutely despised.
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