That journalism may thrive (1)

‘Towards Better Reporting,’ ‘Gender Equality’, ‘Media Safety in the Digital Age,’ and so on. Each of the above theme and sub-themes are crucial to the survival of the press and its freedom in the twenty-first century. They could be subjects of numerous columns, even books. Reporting is a salient function of the press, with its […]

‘Towards Better Reporting,’ ‘Gender Equality’, ‘Media Safety in the Digital Age,’ and so on. Each of the above theme and sub-themes are crucial to the survival of the press and its freedom in the twenty-first century. They could be subjects of numerous columns, even books. Reporting is a salient function of the press, with its various perspectives and dimensions. The reporter is the key journalist or press man. His report forms the basis and essence of his profession. The issue of gender and its politics has assumed critical propulsion in world discourse today and the press can ill-afford to ignore it. This is the digital, knowledge and internet age-the age of the social media, with its assumption of centre-stage in the media business. The landscape of performance for the journalist and the freedom in which it does so is a fundamental challenge to world democracies. The freedom issue is a concern of the globe and its first test is in the press-the domain of information, education, entertainment and exchange of humane values, everywhere and anywhere.  Thus, journalism must thrive, if humanity must thrive. In this space today, among many of the contending and salient aspects of the journalist’s burden and ordeal that throng the mind for urgent discourse, I shall examine the aspect of the appreciation of the pursuit of press freedom in difficult circumstances-in a democracy and in repressive, warring polity-Syria and France.. How is press freedom and its advocates-individuals as well as groups rewarded or appreciated? What are the positive and negative throes of courage of expression and its target?
Two examples typify the struggle for the rights to free expression and their attempted reward or reprisal. One is the reward effort of the Syrian journalist and rights activist, Mazen Darwish, 38, who was presented with the 2015 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize by UNESCO. The other is the French satiric newspaper, Charlie Hebdo, being awarded the ‘prize for courage’ at a Gala dinner on May 5, organized by Pen America. These two occasions of reward for the pursuit of press freedom, freedom of expression through the press, symbolize the key platforms of understanding of the perception of the Press Freedom Day of 1915.
Reporters Without Borders named Mazen Darwish, the irrepressible Syrian journalist as the Journalist of the Year, even as his whereabouts is unknown beyond reports that he is undergoing severe torture and incarceration. He is receiving the honour for ‘his tireless engagement for freedom of expression in Syria.’ Since February, he has been held in Syrian prison and reportedly tortured. In war-ravaged Syria today, it is a suicidal business being a journalist. In the year 2011, Darwish had himself painted the hazardous nature of the practice of journalism in his country when he said that being a journalist in Syria is like ‘walking through a minefield’, with the profession being fraught with numerous ‘taboos’, including tampering with  political issues, human rights violation, or the sensitive issue of governance by the repressive regime. Darwish catalogued the numerous other no-go areas in which the mine can explode on daring and hubristic journalists. At age 38, Mazen has fought valiantly for free expression in Syria without yielding to hard tackles from government. He has deployed various strategies and tactics in his relentless struggle for press freedom and human and civil rights activism.
In 2004, he founded the Syrian Centre for Media ad Freedom of Expression (SCM)-a  forum through which he battled  for the rights of journalists and gave support to journalists  when they run into murky waters in the ‘danger zones’ of the Syrian authorities. By 2012, Darwish and his ‘rebellious’ colleagues were rounded up. SCM’s activities could no longer be stomached by the dictatorial regime in Syria.  They were found publishing ‘subversive’ reports on free speech violations and on the inclement working conditions of journalists in Syria. To make their audacious activities more unacceptable, SCM collected and publicized cases of bloggers and other persons that were found to be activists of the media and who have suddenly disappeared from the streets of Syria. Worse still, SCM started to advocate for the reforms of the obnoxious media laws in Syria.