Althouse: How many journalists were killed this year, in "direct relation to their work"?

December 27, 2011

How many journalists were killed this year, in "direct relation to their work"?

43.

37 comments:

edutcher said...: A lot of people will have a very hard time getting worked up over that.; 12/27/11, 4:28 PM
rhhardin said...: Of course if you're targeted for killing, strictly speaking, you become a message.; 12/27/11, 4:32 PM
Carol_Herman said...: Well, let's see. They didn't include Syria. They didn't include Russia. And, they didn't include China, or her satelites, either. So, it's not much of a list.

As to how many of these journalists were women ... and got raped while working for CNN. Lara Larson comes to mind.

Is Cairo "safer" because rapes aren't included on the "dangerous work journalists do?"

How many journalists died in their moms basements?

Ya know, in the old days it was booze and smoking that took its toll.

Was Occupy Wall Street considered a dangerous assignment?; 12/27/11, 4:39 PM
Steve M. Galbraith said...: Some journalists really do amazing work in unbelievable situations.

Nicholas Kristoff is one.

Yeah, his opinions are often, well, just terribly wrong but he doesn't sit behind a desk all year and write about godawful places. He goes to them.

Another one is the guy who has to sit next to Krugman.

Now there's a tough environment.

There, I giveth and I taketh away.; 12/27/11, 4:47 PM
rcommal said...: edutcher: A lot of people will have a very hard time getting worked up over that.

No doubt it gave you a great deal of satisfaction to write that.

From the CPJ special report:

Journalists die at high rates while covering protests in the Arab world and elsewhere. Photographers and freelancers appear vulnerable. Pakistan is again the deadliest nation.

No doubt some think they had it coming to them. Who needs this type of news coverage, anyway?

Right?

/sarcasm; 12/27/11, 4:49 PM
Moose said...: Look, you go into the lion's cage covered with raw meat, things happen. Can't really get worked up over people that have issues with risk analysis...; 12/27/11, 4:51 PM
edutcher said...: rcommal said...

edutcher: A lot of people will have a very hard time getting worked up over that.

No doubt it gave you a great deal of satisfaction to write that.

No, but a lot of people are rather tired of "journalists" pontificating about the exalted nature of their "profession" when all they really do is serve as propagandists.

If they did their jobs - reporting - and told the truth a lot more, there would be more outrage over how many are dead.

People mourned guys like Ernie Pyle.

But he was a reporter.

Not a "journalist".; 12/27/11, 4:54 PM
Sam vfm #111 said...: "Journalists die at high rates while covering protests in the Arab world..."
Not to mention having your head cut off. Yet the media still covers for Islam. As long as they believe that Islam is the "religion of Peace" and not the murderous political system it really is, they will continue to die.; 12/27/11, 4:57 PM
rcommal said...: That's what I thought. Didn't bother to go look at the list and where and what the journalists in question were covering.

Ernie Pyle might very well be ashamed of a lot of what passes for journalism today. But I suspect he'd also be ashamed of the shallowness of some readers.; 12/27/11, 4:59 PM
Amartel said...: 11 in Pakistan, 8 in Mexico, 7 in Iraq (look for that number to rise soon), 6 each in Libya and Brazil, 2 in Afghanistan (look for that number to rise next year). None in the US this year though, according to the website, 5 since 1992, including one who died in the WTC on 9/11 and also including Chauncey Bailey, gunned down on his way to work in Oakland while working on, and in relation to, a story on the suspicious finances and criminal activities at a local bakery business.; 12/27/11, 5:01 PM
rcommal said...: Chauncey Bailey, gunned down on his way to work in Oakland while working on, and in relation to, a story on the suspicious finances and criminal activities at a local bakery business.

Amartel: Don't be silly! All Bailey--like all the rest--was "really do[ing] is serv[ing] as propagandists." AND he had poor risk analysis skills. You must admit: He had it coming to him.; 12/27/11, 5:05 PM
edutcher said...: rcommal said...

That's what I thought. Didn't bother to go look at the list and where and what the journalists in question were covering.

Ernie Pyle might very well be ashamed of a lot of what passes for journalism today. But I suspect he'd also be ashamed of the shallowness of some readers.

Matter of fact, I did.

How many were crusading for the truth and how many were lying for the other side? Doesn't say, does it?

We're to assume they were all valiant.

They were "journalists".

The reason people go to talk radio, Fox, and the Internet is because they're sick of being lied to by "journalists".

As to shallowness, nothing is closer to the surface than the faux outrage of the average Lefty troll.; 12/27/11, 5:16 PM
Wince said...: How many journalists were killed this year, in "direct relation to their work"?

I suppose the unfortunate corollary is that journalists tend to survive in inverse proportion to their usefulness to society.; 12/27/11, 5:25 PM
rcommal said...: We're to assume they were all valiant.

No. We're to assume about all of them that "all they really do is serve as propagandists." That's what you said--or should I say, painted with broad brush--right?

You overreached, edutcher. And straight out of the gate on this thread you jumped immediately to the trite, expected response. Call me a lefty troll all you like (I'm neither, and those whose opinions I care about here know that), but it doesn't change the fact that you set the tone. Are you a troll, too?; 12/27/11, 5:28 PM
Amartel said...: rcommal, you are a dramatic chipmunk. http://zapom.com/watch.php?video=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DeVLOVpwXYGY

The report is published by the Committee to Protect Journalists. Whatever we think of western "journalists" and their shady ways, press freedom is not a given in most countries as it is here (where it is used and abused and taken for granted with abandon to the point where there's oversaturation of information and few reliable sources). CPJ's website says it doesn't get government funding (so no viewpoint discrimination) and points out the importance of a free press in relation to other human rights. All good so far. I guess we need a test case, like did they protest the abuse of Lara Logan in Tahrir Square (and it's cover-up by her idiot employer). Can't really tell on casual perusal. They do not appear to pull punches with the abuses of journalists and bloggers in Egypt and elsewhere in the Middle East, or anywhere for that matter.; 12/27/11, 5:36 PM
Browndog said...: My eyes read "journalists"..

My brain says "propagandists".

Wonder how many auto mechanics died in the line of duty last year...; 12/27/11, 5:38 PM
bagoh20 said...: "Wonder how many auto mechanics died in the line of duty last year."

Telling people stuff they don't want to hear is risky business.; 12/27/11, 5:48 PM
rcommal said...: Amartel: The link brought me a ZaPom page, but there wasn't a video there. Try again? I suspect I'd enjoy what you were trying to point me to.; 12/27/11, 5:50 PM
edutcher said...: rcommal said...

We're to assume they were all valiant.

No. We're to assume about all of them that "all they really do is serve as propagandists." That's what you said--or should I say, painted with broad brush--right?

You overreached, edutcher. And straight out of the gate on this thread you jumped immediately to the trite, expected response. Call me a lefty troll all you like (I'm neither, and those whose opinions I care about here know that), but it doesn't change the fact that you set the tone. Are you a troll, too?

No, commal's the one who "jumped immediately to the trite, expected response" and wanted to make more of it than it was.

But that's what trolls do.

All I did was comment on the esteem in which "journalists" were held by the bulk of the population, but commal wanted to make more out of it by sneering an assumption that what I said gave me "satisfaction" when there was nothing in my tone or words to indicate such.

And, yes, I'm probably glad I'm not one of "those whose opinions he cares about here".

And, no, I don't buy for an instant he's not just another supercilious, condescending Lefty troll.; 12/27/11, 5:51 PM
rcommal said...: In the U.S., it appears that the most dangerous profession (in terms of deaths per thousand employed) is commercial fishery as of 2010. Police & Sheriff's officer are #10. The only one that sort of surprised me--simply because I'd never thought about it before--is #7, Refuse and Recyclable Materials Collectors, but it makes sense. List (must scroll just a bit); 12/27/11, 6:07 PM
Amartel said...: Sorry. Old link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVLOVpwXYGY

Here's some fresh irony. Arianna Huffington on the BOD for Committee to Protect Journalists. Hahahahahaha.; 12/27/11, 6:15 PM
rcommal said...: Amartel: That's hilarious! Love it. Watched it three times, the last two with my son (11-1/2). I told him why I was watching it and asked him if it reminds him of me. He said, "Yeah, a little, but only sometimes."

So there you go! LMAO.; 12/27/11, 6:20 PM
Paul Brinkley said...: I keep wondering when fate is going to catch up to Michael Yon. So far, he's doing great, and if anyone can survive a tour, it's him. Fellow sure does roll the dice a lot, though.; 12/27/11, 7:25 PM
traditionalguy said...: Sarah Palin must have done this with her targeting. Payback time.; 12/27/11, 7:47 PM
Anonymous said...: Paul Brinkley said...
I keep wondering when fate is going to catch up to Michael Yon. So far, he's doing great, and if anyone can survive a tour, it's him. Fellow sure does roll the dice a lot, though
------------------
I'm worried too.; 12/27/11, 8:07 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: I suppose the unfortunate corollary is that journalists tend to survive in inverse proportion to their usefulness to society.

This.

It's the brave ones covering real news who can end up dead. That's the point of the bravery though. Good for them for being credits to their profession.; 12/27/11, 8:08 PM
Jose_K said...: Good for the people mocking Daniel Pearl; 12/27/11, 8:14 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Rcommal [Reader] & Edutcher:

Shake hands and start over. I think you two think more alike than you may suspect.

So start the new year off on a good note!; 12/27/11, 8:26 PM
rcommal said...: Amartel: We are so delighted with at chez rcommal that my husband turned it into a custom ringtone--my first one EVAH in the long history of my having a cell phone! (Normally, I use the boring, old, yet familiar and comforting "ring" of traditional phones back in the day.)

You have become legendary around here.

---

AJ: I will take your suggestion under advisement. Thanks. : ); 12/27/11, 8:48 PM
rcommal said...: that should be: "with your ditty"; 12/27/11, 8:49 PM
Anonymous said...: US farming accidents total about 1300 lives and 120,000 injuries per a year.; 12/27/11, 9:23 PM
David said...: Deadliest Countries in 2011

Pakistan: 7
Iraq: 5
Libya: 5
Mexico: 3
Philippines: 2
Somalia: 2
Egypt: 2
Yemen: 2
Afghanistan: 2
Brazil: 2
Bahrain: 2
Thailand: 1
Russia: 1
Nigeria: 1
Peru: 1
Azerbaijan: 1
Ivory Coast: 1
Tunisia: 1
Panama: 1
Syria: 1; 12/27/11, 9:43 PM
David said...: Amerikka: 0; 12/27/11, 9:43 PM
David said...: In places like Pakistan, Iran, "Palestine" and etc you don't have to kill that many.

The intimidation factor shuts just about everyone else up.

Imagine a journalist doing an investigation of government-military-drug gang cooperation and corruption in Mexico. How long do you think that journalist would last?

This is just another reason to be grateful we live in the USA.

I do wish American journalists would stop bragging about how "brave" they are in their domestic reporting, though.; 12/27/11, 9:49 PM
David said...: Consider the coal miners in China.; 12/27/11, 9:51 PM
Lyle said...: Some of these people were stupid. To the others... thank you and God bless.; 12/27/11, 10:52 PM
rcommal said...: To this very day (from that very day), the default ring on my cell phone is "Dramatic Chipmunk," inspired by this very Althouse comment thread. At my request, the audio got ripped and re-purposed (though never shared), and to this day that ring tone amuses the hell out of me.

There are, of course, as always (before and since), also non-default rings on my cell, They are few and far between and attached to only a few who while far away are always near. To this very day, FTR.

Still, to this very day, that ringtone makes me smile every single time (and laugh out loud quite often). And--whenever (and sometimes however) practicable--I wait to answer just exactly long enough such that I can answer it exactly in time and on beat and with the proper cadence: "Hey!"

Never let it be said that online life hasn't left its mark on me, by golly! Including practically and humorously speaking.

: ); 7/30/12, 1:25 AM