OPINION: At the frontline with pen and paper
PORT MORESBY: Our prayers are with the relatives and friends of seven media personnel who perished in the giant earthquake that rocked New Zealand’s city of Christchurch last week.
While it has been tragic, we are also encouraged and emboldened in our daily efforts by the courage of the living in Christchurch who have refused to let the tragedy get them down. They continue to publish and broadcast the rescue rebuilding efforts.
It is a lesson we all must take to heart.
We watch or listen or read with growing fascination, or horror, at the courageous exploits of soldiers or policemen or fire officers operating on the frontlines of their various fields.
We little realise that such information would not be possible were it not for another group of courageous individuals who also brave the elements, human or nature, to be there to report the incident.
Being in the media is not easy. These are a unique bunch who must rise up to every occasion.
They might not be trained soldiers but they will need to be in the midst of zipping bullets and be exposed to the blood and gore associated with war.
They might not be trained firemen but they will be there in the middle of raging fires.
They might have little knowledge of or training in the field of business but they will be expected to read the balance sheet of multinationals, digest it and report the latest in the fortunes of companies.
Often maligned
Journalists get involved in every human endeavour in order to report on that endeavour back to an insatiable public forever hungry for information and knowledge.
They do it at cost often. While they are only purveyors of the truth, not creators of them, they are often maligned against.
And, in the process, journalists, cameramen and broadcasters get hurt in the line of duty – often fatally.
Columnist Kathleen Parker wrote in The Washington Post in relation to a journalist’s work during the crisis in Egypt: “The turmoil in Egypt has been a lesson in the fragility of a right we so often take for granted: To speak.
“It also has been a reminder to those who deride the ‘lamestream media’ as the enemy, traitors and worse, that many members of that maligned tribe are also very brave.
“A list of journalists who have been assaulted, beaten, harassed and arrested in Egypt since demonstrations began.”
Attacks on journalists are nothing new. Since 1992, 849 have died in the line of duty. Of those, 545 were murdered with impunity. Another 145 journalists are in prison worldwide for the offence of reporting.
Seven of the 153 deaths confirmed so in New Zealand’s tragic earthquake last week have been identified as media personnel.
New Zealand authorities have confirmed the seven as employees of The Press newspaper and Canterbury Television, including managing director Murray Woods.
Despite the tragedy and the collapse of its head office, the newspaper has continued to publish from its printing offices on the outskirts of Christchurch reporting the tragedy and rescue efforts.
The Pacific Islands News Association, as the regional media body, called on all its members around the Pacific to remember their counterparts in New Zealand, especially those in Christchurch as they come to terms with the loss of their loved ones, friends and work colleagues.
We, at The National, also share our thoughts and prayers with the families of the six workers at Canterbury Television and one employee of Christchurch press.
It is in times of grief and tragedy that we feel that bond that binds all media personnel around the world.
We all know that there is no adrenalin rush like being first at the scene.
But, when we ourselves become the news, when we suffer tragedy ourselves and must of a necessity report our own tragic circumstances, it is truly sad.
We join PINA in praising the strength and resilience of The Press newspaper to continue publishing after its main building in the main central business district collapsed.
We, too, salute the courage of the newspaper staff for persevering even after one of their members died.
This is the strength that the so often maligned media can present to the community.
Carry on publishing and broadcasting colleagues for what you do is priceless – our dedication to get the truth out to our people in New Zealand and everywhere. - The National editorial/Pacific Media Watch
Article: At the frontline with pen and paper
Pacific Media Watch
