World Press Freedom Day, proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in December 1993, was observed on May 3rd this year. This year’s theme is the title of this piece. It serves as “a call to affirm the importance of cherishing information as a public good, and exploring what can be done in the production, distribution and reception of content to strengthen journalism, and to advance transparency and empowerment while leaving no one behind”. The Washington Post marked the day with Austin Tice in its full-page ad.

Austin Tice, a former US marine, was a freelance journalist working for several news organizations namely, The Washington Post and CBS, when he disappeared after being detained at a checkpoint near Damascus on August 14, 2012. The Biden administration has picked up after the previous administration’s efforts to have him released, based on a belief that he is still alive. At least, there’s still hope for his return.

Jamal Khashoggi’s story is grim. No hope for his return after his visit to the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. That picture of him entering the front door of the Saudi consulate is the last sighting of him alive. He was a Saudi journalist who went on a self-imposed exile in the US after criticizing policies of the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. At the time of his murder, he was contributing a monthly column for The Washington Post.

During the period 2009 to 2019, 554 journalists and 49 media workers were killed worldwide, as reported by The Washington Post digital news dated December 30th, 2019. Reporters Without Borders, in its rsf.org dated December 29, 2020, reported that 50 journalists were killed in 2020 alone, 2/3 of whom in countries “at peace”.  Thirty two percent of the fatalities were from countries with conflicts; 68%, from countries “at peace”. Of the journalists killed in connexion with their work, 84% were targeted and deliberately murdered. Those killed in countries “at peace” were investigating local corruption or misuse of funds and organized crime or were covering protests. Three hundred eighty seven were detained in connexion with their work. Mexico topped the list. All these occurred in 2020 which had 10 months of the pandemic, lockdowns and strict stay-at-home orders. Canada’s deaths of journalists are slim. Just 2 in the 90s.

In the Philippines, one name stands out. Maria Ressa. A Filipino-American journalist, she co-founded and is the CEO of Rappler, a Philippine online news company. Last year, she was convicted of cyber libel under the Philippine Anti-Cybercrime law. In 2018, she was awarded Time magazine’s Person of the Year alongside Jamal Khashoggi, the staff of Capital Gazette newspapers in Maryland, U Wa Lone and U Kyaw Soe Oo, two imprisoned Reuters journalists.  A critic of Rodrigo Duterte, the populist president of the Philippines, Ressa was believed to be targeted by Duterte’s administration for arrest and conviction. She is out on bail. PBS Frontline presented a documentary about her plight as a journalist in the present Philippine administration. “A Thousand Cuts” can be viewed on youtube. In January 2019, she came to Toronto and spoke at the Toronto Reference Library. Not a stranger to the cold and winters in the Northeast, having lived in New Jersey since she was ten and studied at Princeton University, she felt comfortable in the January frigid weather of Toronto.

When I think of the risks journalists take to deliver the truth to the people, I am in awe. In the 80s, I met with the leader of the National People’s Army (NPA) in the Bicol region for a report I was doing for an ethnic paper-based in Toronto. The NPA was identified as a terrorist group then. At the time of our meeting, the rebel organization had spread out to different provinces and was waging a bloody war with the government of Ferdinand Marcos who later fled to Hawaii after a bloodless revolution in 1986. I was the very first from Toronto to interviewed the commander who didn’t look any day older than me. When I came back to Toronto, I reported my interview. I did not mention that I was led to a deep forest, searched for weapons and was surrounded by followers of the leader during the interview. I thought I was on a mission to tell their story. Ferdinand Marcos was said to be best recruiter of the NPA, with his policies and the corrupt practices of people in his government.