“Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed: everything else is public relations.” – George Orwell.
I’m a journalist. I’m not a particularly important journalist. I don’t report on the Federal Budget or get invited to Stephen Harper’s press conferences. I haven’t uncovered any scandals or exposed a great cover up or probably made much of a difference in anyone’s life though my writing.
I’m under no illusion that Hollywood will document my life in All The President’s Men 2: Electric Boogaloo starring Ben Affleck as Cale Hill, a small-time journalist in regional Canada.
But I am a journalist, and I take great pride in the ideals and tenets of journalism, and that of freedom of speech and freedom of the press.
Winston Churchill once said “A free press is the unsleeping guardian of every other right that free men prize; it is the most dangerous foe of tyranny.”
And for those reasons I was deeply saddened when earlier this month, armed gunmen walked into the editorial meeting of satirical French newspaper, Charlie Hebdo, and killed a dozen people. Ten staff, a security guard, and a hero policeman who came to their aid.
The attack comes during a particularly rough few months for freedom of the press.
In Egypt, journalists from one of the most globally respected news outlets, Al Jazeera, are being held in prison for being critical and unbiased of the Egyptian government. More than 80 journalists have been kidnapped in Syria since 2011. Two American journalists, James Foley and Steven Sotloff, were beheaded on camera by terror group ISIS.
On the streets of Ferguson, journalists were tear-gassed and arrested without cause.
North Korea didn’t even want to let the movie The Interview be released in American theatres, going so far — if the FBI is correct in its allegations — as to hack Sony Pictures, blackmailing the company and threatening attacks if the movie was screened.
But there’s been beauty born from these tragedies, and it seems to me there’s a great and powerful optimism in the wake of these incidents.
Following the Charlie Hedbo attacks, some amazing cartoonists delivered powerful images about the power and importance of a free press and the people of France stood unafraid in the face of the attacks. In solidarity, French news outlets donated staff and assisted with print runs, allowing Charlie Hedbo to continue to operate. The very next issue sold-out, and several newspapers globally ran Charlie Hedbo’s front page as their own.
While we can’t get back the lives of those taken in these cowardly and evil attacks, we can stand together and say no to intolerance, ignorance and violence, and instead say yes to a better, more hopeful 2015 — for journalism and for all of us.
Je Suis Charlie.
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