After only 27 days beginning the year of 2015, there have already been nine journalists killed according the Committee to Protect Journalists. Since this organization began in 1992, the total number of journalists killed comes to a striking 1,110. One of these journalists’ names was Dan Eldon, and his sister, Amy, set out on a mission to answer questions about his death and whether or not it had a purpose (IMDB). Her quest was documented in a TV Move titled, “Dying to Tell the Story,” which follows her interviews with several different wartime journalists and their experiences.
Photo credit: http://www.daneldon.org
Each journalist provided intriguing insight about Amy’s questions regarding their profession, and while they all answered her questions differently, their conclusions had a common theme. Several of the journalists Amy interviewed said that they put their lives on the line because it’s a privilege and a public duty to be able to witness history in the making and to ensure that history is documented accurately.
Elie Wiesel claimed, “What harms the victims most is not the cruelty of the oppressor, but the silence of the bystander.” Journalists are taught to tell a story in an unbiased way, because in their own way, they are documenting history as it happens. However, as Christiane Amanpour stated in her interview with Amy, when it comes to human rights, one has a moral obligation as a journalist and as a human being to recognize that sometimes not all sides are equal.
Journalists empower average citizens by asking questions and documenting photos and videos that reveal the truth, no matter how ugly that truth may be. It is for this reason that Dan Eldon, and other journalists like him have not died in vain.
Christen Limbaugh 