Murdered journalists
This is hard to read. Painful.
The killers struck along a lonely road south of Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, on a Sunday in December 1998, spraying automatic rifle fire into a jeep carrying Norbert Zongo, his brother, and two companions. The gunmen set the vehicle ablaze in a bid to obscure their crime, but they could not erase Zongo’s reputation in the West African nation as the uncompromising editor of the weekly L’Independant. Neither, to many people’s eyes, could they conceal whose hands were stained with the killings—officials in President Blaise Compaoré’s government whom Zongo had investigated relentlessly for alleged torture and murder…Deputy editor of La Patria in Manizales, Colombia, Sierra was shot twice on a main street as he and his daughter walked back to the newsroom after lunch in January 2002. Sierra had long probed corruption within la coalición, a political cabal that governed his province with absolute authority…During Rwanda’s genocide, journalists were targeted regardless of ethnicity for being seen as supportive of peace and political reform…Marlene Garcia-Esperat, a well-regarded Philippine broadcaster and columnist whose anti-graft message earned the ire of local officials, was shot in her Tacurong home in front of her horrified family on Easter weekend in 2005.
At Novaya Gazeta, Moscow’s twice-weekly independent newspaper, the staff’s pain is fresh even now, months after an assassin gunned down Politkovskaya—Anya, as colleagues called her—in her Moscow apartment building in October 2006. In a country where 80 percent of the public gets its news from state-controlled television, Novaya’s dogged coverage of social and political issues has won it devoted readers and passionate enemies. Two of its top journalists have been assassinated and a third has died under mysterious circumstances in the past six years; all reported on risky topics before their deaths.
This is one of the things the Internet and blogs can do – keep this stuff in circulation, keep it from fading. It’s exactly the kind of thing that should not fade. The practice should fade, the reports on the unfaded practice should not.
And getting this light and air is important. Even more important is other potential perpetrators seeing consequences. The consequences should be such that it is always costly to kill people working for justice.
Try looking at “The Pain” – here:
http://thepaincomics.com/weekly070314.htm
For the cartoon of Putin – and then read the Artists’ statement.
here, peole are saying – yes Putin is a monster, but what can we do – he IS ex-KGB after all!
And, of course, the perpetrators are trying to buy time – and all too often succeed in doing so, to die peacefully in bed, of old age, having left a train of misery behind them.
“Anya’s paper.” Anya’s smile, Anya’s desk covered in newspapers and folders and delicate vase filled with fresh flowers; Anya’s four replacement staff, Anya’s boss & colleagues; Anya’s things that are mostly as she left, Politkovskaya—Anya, as colleagues called her, all paint a very very sad poignant picture.
There is though – a flicker of hope at “Anya’s paper”
The truth is, we cannot back down,” “It is they who must fear us, not vice versa.
Only then do we stand a chance at uncovering the truth”.
The writing studio and the art of writing and making films
From real life to reel life Veronica Guerin
“The story of Veronica Guerin isn’t a small story. It isn’t meaningful just to people in Ireland. Her story shows the reason why people want to become journalists. This is somebody who couldn’t be frightened, no matter what threats the people she was reporting on would make. That bravery and courage ultimately made an enormous difference to her country – without her, it would be a different place. I like to tell stories about individuals who make a difference in the world and are role models for future generations. To me, that’s Veronica Guerin. She is one of those people who changed Ireland and the way people thought about drugs and criminals. She is a person that other generations should know about.”
Producer Jerry Bruckheimer sums it up nicely. See same for full story. Plus Wiki also gives details of the story behind her brutal killing – that shook the Irish nation. Veronica’s brother, Jimmy – was throughout the sad time a tower of strength and carried to the last the courage of Veronica’s/his convictions. I think there was talk of him entering politics.
Am not completely sure? Must check!