Reports of female journalists being kidnapped, raped or worse have been in the headlines as of late and although it’s upsetting to hear of anyone being injured or killed, it’s especially troubling when I hear of journalists

Is Journalism Worth Dying For? Final Dispatches

since they are in unique positions to share the stories of what’s happening on the ground to a much larger, global audience.

As many of you know, I write a fair amount on various topics, many of which are around the topic of women’s rights. It’s one of the reasons I have become more involved with fair trade in general – women’s rights.

The story of Lara Logan and her attack in Egypt was particularly hard to stomach and read. But besides the fact that she was raped, which in and of itself is horrible and my heart goes out to her – it’s the victimization of her attack by both right and left winged pundits, journalists and individuals in general that make me furious. No one, absolutely no one, deserves to be raped. Most, although sadly, not all, of us can agree on that statement.

Today a story about another journalist who was murdered because of her line of work came across my computer screen because of a book that just released. The book is called Is Journalism Worth Dying For? Final Dispatches and it’s the story of Anna Politkovskaya, an American-born and Russian-raised journalist who was shot dead in her building in Russia in 2006. The murder is still unsolved. She was well-known as a human rights activist, insisting on telling the stories that needed to be told, even when she faced danger more than once.

She has been quoted as saying that while she was concerned about her safety, she was just as concerned for those who were her informants. While attending a conference on the freedom of press organized by Reporters Without Borders in Vienna in 2005, she said: “People sometimes pay with their lives for saying aloud what they think. In fact, one can even get killed for giving me information. I am not the only one in danger. I have examples that prove it.”*

We rely on our journalists to tell us the stories of people all over the world. They leave their own families and comforts of home to do what they feel is important to connect us with what’s happening.

It also brings to light the real danger to women (and children and men) that exists every single day in many parts of the world. I hope stories like these serve a bigger purpose than just to sell books and stories – but to remind us how incredibly lucky we are to have brave journalists and their crews who are willing to put their lives in danger to uncover the truth.

-Megy

* “Trois journalists tues le jour l’inauguration a Bayeux du Memorial des reporters” (in French). Reporters Without Borders. 2006-10-07.