Is there a way to offer greater protection to journalists who risk their lives to report from conflict zones?
Press freedom organisations are hoping to persuade UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon of the merits of appointing a so-called “Protector of Journalists”.
They believe such a position would combine political weight with the capacity to act quickly, plus the legitimacy, to save journalists’ lives.
Among the bodies supporting the move are Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Wan-Ifra, the global press publishing organisation and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
They are seeking to convinced the UN general assembly that, with 787 reporters who having been murdered in the line of duty in the last decade, it is time to act.
RSF has produced the above campaign poster with the slogan “When you kill journalists, you kill information”, which argues that, when reporters are killed it prevents people from knowing the truth.
In so doing, it means that people lack the information to speak up and fight for a better world.
To add your name to a letter calling on Ban Ki-moon to act, go here. See also #ProtectJournalists.
