Protect journalists

Paulina Longoria | THE RIDER

People read newspaper articles, listen to the radio or watch the news, but a journalist is always the one to deliver the news. By being the voice of the citizens, some journalists are victims of unpunished crimes.

In the last 14 years, close to 1,200 journalists have been killed for reporting the news and bringing information to the public, according to UNESCO. In nine of 10 cases, the killers go unpunished.

The “UNESCO observatory of killed journalists” shows 41 reporters have been killed this year. The observatory includes a total of 1,414 journalists killed from 1993 to 2020.

“UNESCO is concerned that impunity damages whole societies by covering up serious human rights abuses, corruption, and crime,” the website states. “Governments, civil society, the media, and everyone concerned to uphold the rule of law are being asked to join in the global efforts to end impunity.”

After the assassination of two French journalists in Mali on Nov. 2, 2013, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed Nov. 2 as the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists in General Assembly Resolution A/RES/68/163. 

The U.N. resolution urged member states “to do their utmost to prevent violence against journalists and media workers.”

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines impunity as “exemption or freedom from punishment, harm, or loss.”

One of the five freedoms in the First Amendment of the U.S. Bill of Rights in the Constitution is freedom of the press, which protects a journalist’s job. The nonprofit organization Committee to Protect Journalists promotes press freedom worldwide.

In 2019, the organization reported the deadliest countries for journalists were Syria and Mexico.

I interviewed reporter Juan Carlos Espriella, who has worked for 21 years in the newspaper El Mañana de Reynosa in McAllen. He explained being a reporter brings moral and physical dangers.

For the moral risks, “the reporter gets it coming when they take advantage of their job, make bad usage of their privileges and attack a person, an institution, or a government … which is not the goal of this profession,” Espriella said.

However, Espriella said even though journalists report the truth, “you can upset the targets involved in the story you’re doing, and that is when you involuntarily endanger your life. … In the best cases, the reporter would be beaten up, and in the worst, end up dead.” 

Society has embraced the idea that being a journalist is a dangerous job. Espriella believes society has also made up its mind that reporters are corrupt and lack dignity.

He said it is better, easier and safer to be a reporter in the United States than it is in Mexico. 

Asked what the government and the community can do to protect journalists, Espriella replied, “To dignify the profession. Stop criticizing, humiliating, pointing out, accusing and start respecting reporters. … I believe we would be more protected if we had the respect of the authorities and people, as we would have a better and more secure work environment.”

To commemorate International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, UNESCO will host the online session “Strengthening investigations and prosecutions to end impunity for crimes against journalists” on Dec. 10 during the World Press Freedom Conference.

The session will “include the presentation of guidelines for prosecutors on investigating and prosecuting crimes and attacks against journalists, developed in partnership with the International Association of Prosecutors,” according to the event’s website.

Espriella advises aspiring journalists to study and get the knowledge to report with logic and truth. 

“It is not about forming bookworms, but people with their own opinions who investigate and always go the extra mile in their education … and always remain unbiased, without losing your personal opinions. With all the knowledge that you gain, you will have enough elements … professional objectivity, and then, you can inform.”

He said professional success is not worth it if your life is at stake.