Enemies of Reason Poundshop potshots at the media moral maze.

Actual journalism and its price

A post-script to the murder of Sri Lankan journalist Lasantha Wickrametunga. His final, breathtaking, piece of writing is now up at Comment is Free but fuck the Graun, go to the Sunday Leader website and read it there, among the many other insightful articles by the same journalist:

Why then do we do it? I often wonder that. After all, I too am a husband, and the father of three wonderful children. I too have responsibilities and obligations that transcend my profession, be it the law or journalism. Is it worth the risk? Many people tell me it is not. Friends tell me to revert to the bar, and goodness knows it offers a better and safer livelihood. Others, including political leaders on both sides, have at various times sought to induce me to take to politics, going so far as to offer me ministries of my choice. Diplomats, recognising the risk journalists face in Sri Lanka, have offered me safe passage and the right of residence in their countries. Whatever else I may have been stuck for, I have not been stuck for choice.

But there is a calling that is yet above high office, fame, lucre and security. It is the call of conscience.

...

As for me, I have the satisfaction of knowing that I walked tall and bowed to no man. And I have not travelled this journey alone. Fellow journalists in other branches of the media walked with me: most are now dead, imprisoned without trial or exiled in far-off lands. Others walk in the shadow of death that your presidency has cast on the freedoms for which you once fought so hard. You will never be allowed to forget that my death took place under your watch. As anguished as I know you will be, I also know that you will have no choice but to protect my killers: you will see to it that the guilty one is never convicted. You have no choice.

It really is an extraordinary piece. I wonder if those journalists trawling Google at their desks for Britney Spears stories can ever really have the same job satisfaction. Or courage. Or integrity. Or should even call themselves journalists at all.

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