The War against the Pen

By James Ojo

credits: gbcghana.com

Undoubtedly, the might of the pen had enjoyed a good reputation of

mythological proportion as Agbese rightly said.

But it is rather pathetic and catastrophic to note that the recent

attacks being launched against journalists all over the world has gone

through the roofs in recent time and thus requires serious attention

to rescue the deteriorating situation. According to Irina Bokova,

director general of UNESCO,"The threat is grave. On average, one

journalist is killed per week and while fatalities include foreign

correspondents, the vast majority of victims are local, covering local

stories, living in a climate of impunity."

Agbese, a mogul and foremost Nigerian Journalist once said, "All

societies need the reporter, not usually for what he is but what he

does and what is does is giving information".

Imagine our society without journalists to keep us abreast of events?

Imagine our society without the reporters to keep the governments on

their toes as Dimgba Igwe noted? Imagine...? Yet, journalists are

being massacred, killed, tortured and jailed at will in the course of

discharging their duties.

The worst part of this horrible trend is that most of these

perpetrators are hardly brought to book and according to Anna Paolini,

UNESCO regional director  "The fact that anyone who kills a journalist

can get away with it is unacceptable."

The International Federation of Journalists reported that in 2014,

Pakistan was the deadliest country with 14 journalists killed,

followed by 12 dead in Syria and nine each in Afghanistan and the

Palestinian territories.

The report showed that 118 journalists and media

staff were killed around the world in 2014.

According to the report, among those killed, 13 more than in 2013,

were either targeted for their work or caught in the cross-fire while

another 17 died in accidents or natural disasters while on assignment;

prompting the IFJ president to charge the government to "make the

protection of journalists their priority". As journalists are

"targeted not only to restrict the free flow of information, but

increasingly as leverage to secure huge ransoms and political

concessions through sheer violence."

Considering this fact, should media organisations stop the trend of

sending their reporters to places of war, there would "be poorer for

lack of independent witnesses" as the IFJ president said.

From the foregoing, Journalists contribution to the society cannot be

quantified and as such requires all hands to be on deck to go to 'war'

against the surge. The people of our world need the pen to give them the truth. They

need the pen to act as the voice of the voiceless, they need the pen

to serve as a check on government activities among other things. Thus,

the journalists role is all encompassing and as such, laws should be

enforced to protect them in the discharge of their duty.