Journalist: A Risky Job
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Since Dec. 29, 2009, two French journalists are held hostage in Afghanistan. It will be 400 days this Wednesday february 2nd. that Herve Ghesguiere and Stephane Taponier, great reporters for the French public channel FRANCE 3 were kidnapped.
In December, a video sent by the captors showed the two captives alive and calm but emaciated.
While the French governement has at various times issued statements insisting that negotiations for the release of the two mens were progressing, they remain captive and their families have spoken to the media for the first time about their frustrations in December.
"When the foreign minister Michelle Alliot-Marie speaks of a 'short time', we say to ourselves it's imminent." Taponier's father gerard told Agence France Presse. "And then Christmas is already gone...we are still hoping for good news but it gets you down."
Families and colleagues of the two journalists have called for a rally this Wednesday at 2 p.m (local time) in front of the National Assembly in Paris. This rally will only be a moment of contemplation. It will not have any speeches, nor speaking but only a simple moment of communion to support the two journalists-hostages.
Journalist is not an easy job. Sometimes while covering a story you face the risk of being arrested like some journalists in Egypt, or even killed like many journalists in China, russia or Irak.
The freedom of speech and information is, unfortunatelly, not an universal right. Some countries, all over the world, are still controling what is on the news and do not hesitate to use the force to persuade reporters not to critizise governments or not to deal with governments' actions in some regions of the world.
Photo credit: Agence France Presse (AFP) via Creativecommons.org.
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