Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Journalism as Jihad

Journalism can be a scary profession in some parts of the world, especially the Middle East.  Gaddafi just ordered that 19 journalists, who were arrested several days ago, to be released.  According to Reporters Without Borders, there are a great many problems for journalists in the Middle East.  Hundreds left Iraq during the war because of death threats.  But even in peace time, journalists are threatened by governments and high-ranking people in power.  Egypt is issuing new licenses for satellite TV uplinks, in an effort to control the media. 

It takes a lot of courage to print the truth when you know you could be arrested and tortured for it.  I feel very lucky to be blogging from America, because many bloggers in the Middle East have also been jailed for speaking their minds.  I include them as journalists quite simply because some of them are, and even those who aren't "technically" journalists, have proven themselves over the long term by staying true to their principles.  Let us not forget those who are currently imprisoned, often illegally.  Reporters Without Borders has information available in several languages, including Arabic and Farsi.

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