Would you die for your job?
By this I do not mean would you die because of a job, or would you “die” (as in work so hard that it is like death) for a job: I mean would you actually die for your job? This is a hard question to answer.
Daphne Caruana Galizia was murdered earlier this week with a car bomb. She was a 21st century muckraker who targeted corrupt politicians, money launderers and many others.
She will not write another word.
Most people choose their jobs because they are safe. If you were told while applying for a job that you may be slandered, attacked, tortured and/or killed, you would probably be long gone.
But people choose to be journalists every day. Why is that? Why do people choose to do this harmful and sometimes deadly job?
The answer isn’t “because someone has to.” If someone just had to do journalism then we would have replaced journalists with machines a long time ago.
I should make something very clear: I am not as brave as some journalists. I do not see myself dodging bullets or outrunning mobs anytime soon — or really ever for that matter.
I am not a muckraker by any means. I just ramble once a week about my weird view on a political issue of the moment. I am for all intents and purposes, a book nerd who can churn out 600-800 words a week that will be read by the same five people: three of whom are close friends who have to read them, one I am dating, and the other, my mom. But somehow, I am still a journalist. So what makes other journalists and I in any way related?
I believe people choose to become journalists because they value truth and freedom more than even their lives. Journalists fight for truth like revolutionaries.
There is one pitfall: journalists fight for complete truth. This means there are some stories we have to write that are going to anger a lot of people. I don’t mean stories like begrudgingly covering a municipal meeting — I mean writing about how people’s heroes are not as good as we all thought they were.
No one likes quoting a politician’s latest tirade against journalists or writing about producers that sexually harass and assault young actresses. But people have to write these stories. The truth — no matter how uncomfortable — has to be out there.
Everyone is up against journalists. Governments don’t like them because they expose corruption. Citizens don’t like them because they tell people things that conflict with their opinions. Even fellow writers don’t like them because writers see journalists as curt polemicists (writers don’t like to admit we are better at writing than they are … just saying).
Most professions have goals that the workers strive for. In business, you try to make the most money. In the sciences, you try to make the world a safer and healthier place. Journalists on the other hand have an almost metaphysical ideal, instead of a tangible goal: truth.
Most other professions also are routinely praised. Think about Halloween: how many little children are dressed up as journalists? Every year the trick or treaters you see are dressed up as cops, doctors, scientists and EVEN CLOWNS. CLOWNS! THE MOST TERRIFYING PROFESSION EVER IS THOUGHT OF AS MORE POPULAR THAN JOURNALISTS. OK … I’m sorry to all the clowns … I’m still kinda freaked out from “It.”
Daphne Caruana Galizia’s death reminded me that there are a lot of opponents of truth and freedom: some more deadly than others. Journalists from the book reviewer to the foreign correspondent need to not be deterred by these latest threats. Truth needs us now more than ever before.
was expecting to read more about Daphne Caruana Galizia, who she was, why she died, what she was working on etc.