Honoring those who died in pursuit of truth

Another journalist has lost his life to terrorists. Kenji Goto is among 15 journalists killed thus far in 2015, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. More than 90 journalists and media workers died in 2014. These deaths are sad reminders of the risks journalists take to report on news worldwide. Countries, such as Syria, are now considered too dangerous for journalists, thus the human tragedy that mounts there may go untold. Goto's story was particularly compelling because he took risks so he could cover the plight of civilians, especially children, suffering in war zones. He also apparently took a risk in returning to Syria because he sought to save his friend, Haruna Yukawa, who was also killed by Islamic State terrorists. His widely reported tweet of four years ago also reveals who he was. "Closing my eyes and holding still. It's the end if I get mad or scream. It's close to a prayer. Hate is not for humans. Judgment lies with God. That is what I learned from my Arabic brothers and sisters." In my decade of working with the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, now based at Columbia University, I traveled to many places in and outside the United States and met war correspondents and community journalists who took risks to tell stories such as Goto did. Oftentimes, journalists suffered in the midst of the tragedy. Sometimes they paid the ultimate toll. I co-wrote the Tragedies & Journalists booklet with one of those war correspondents, Frank Smyth, who covered the war in Central America in the 1980s. Frank is founder and executive director of Global Journalist Security and serves as senior adviser for the Committee to Protect Journalists. Frank tells a story of how he re­turned to Central America to investigate the murders of Ignacio Ellacuria, the head of El Salvador's Jesuit university and a mentor of his, and others. He was first to name the army's chief of staff as a suspect "later proved right by the UN truth commission." "Those connections ... motivate you," he wrote to me. "It was dangerous, but I was more than willing to accept the risk. He taught me what conviction really means." Frank added journalists take risks for a variety of reasons. He traveled to Central America in search of stories that otherwise would not be told. "So there was a sense of purpose. But there was also my own ego, which only seemed to grow the more successful I became. A journalist needs to have a strong sense of self to be able to succeed in the face of many obstacles. But one's ego will also be fueled in the process, and one must learn how to keep it in check." But why Goto? "To lose a close colleague is incredibly painful. So is the feeling when a colleague is injured or in captivity. Goto no doubt thought he could help win his friend's release, and felt motivated to try despite the risk." Whether journalists cover war or issues in their community, they usually do it for little money, are staunch supporters of First Amendment rights and our freedoms, and hold themselves to the highest ethical standards. They abhor journalists who do not and are often most critical of each other. That is why we should join in honoring those journalists like Goto who have died in the pursuit of truth, in support of a friend, in the search for the untold story. That is why, in my opinion, journalism is among the last of the noble professions. ----- Joe Hight is a Pulitzer Prize-winning and Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame editor who is now president of his family-owned business Best of Books in Edmond. Published: Mon, Feb 16, 2015