4 minute read
Last Word
Guarding the Messengers
Violence against journalists has become an epidemic. Media companies must protect and advocate for their news teams. BY DAN SHELLEY
On Feb. 24, San Francisco reporter Joe Vazquez and photojournalist John Anglin were covering a routine news story – an Oakland teachers strike – when they were robbed of their camera at gunpoint.
Vazquez and Anglin, who work for CBSowned station KPIX-TV, were accompanied by an armed security guard, a retired police officer. The guard exchanged gunfire with one of the robbers; both were wounded. The gunmen, and several alleged accomplices, were later arrested. The camera was recovered.
This incident is but one indication of an alarming trend. According to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, the archive of record for threats to journalists in our country, 48 reporters and photographers were assaulted in 2017. The number was slightly lower in 2018, 43. At press time, nine have been attacked so far this year.
While robbery was the motive of the KPIX attack, an increasing number of others were ideologically motivated. This comes during a period when Americans are more politically polarized, and as elected leaders and others have decried the press as the “enemy of the American people.”
In June of last year, a Florida man whose van was covered with pro-Trump and anti-news media bumper stickers was arrested and charged with sending several pipe bombs through the mail. At least three bombs were sent to news organizations in New York City. Fortunately, none ignited.
In February of this year, at a Trump rally in El Paso, Texas, a BBC photojournalist was assaulted by an attendee wearing one of those infamous red baseball caps. The president’s mass events have become particularly precarious for journalists.
It’s essential for news organizations to enhance security for journalists. But that just addresses the most egregious symptoms of a larger disease – the public’s lack of trust with the news media.
A January Pew Research Center survey showed that “a majority of Americans believe the news media do not understand people like them.” Nearly three-quarters of Republicans held such beliefs.
On June 27, 2018, an AXIOS/Survey Monkey poll was released, showing that more than 90 percent of Republicans thought the “media intentionally reports fake news.” The very next day, a gunman stormed into the offices of the Capital Gazette in Annapolis,
Md., and opened fire, killing four journalists and an administrative assistant.
In part because of the mass shooting’s proximity to the AXIOS poll, some people jumped to the conclusion that the attacker was politically or ideologically motivated. As it turns out, he had a long-running personal vendetta against the paper after it had covered a court case in which he’d been involved years earlier. But that didn’t make the crime any less tragic.
As I speak to journalists and journalism executives, I ask them the following questions as a means of trying to help them protect themselves and rebuild trust with consumers: ■ Is your newsroom reporting stories that expose problems in your community, and then following up with stories about potential solutions? ■ Has your company taken steps to protect your reporters and photojournalists – safety courses, self-defense training and extra physical security precautions in your newsroom, your station or your office? ■ Do you send one-person multi-media journalist crews into dangerous areas, or insist they do live shots late at night? If so, stop. ■ Do your company’s leaders make an effort to speak to the public – on air, in print, online, during speeches and during conversations with influencers in your community – about the public service your news organization regularly provides? ■ Do your news anchors and reporters explain on the air, and/or on your station’s website and social media channels, the process they go through in order to report news stories? ■ Do you publicly discuss the ethical dilemmas you face when reporting particular stories and the process through which you’ve gone to resolve them? ■ Do you air public service announcements that explain the importance of responsible journalism to your community? ■ Do you do on-air editorials in which you explain your station’s newsgathering philosophy and commitment to serve your community?
By taking such actions, you’ll be surprised how much goodwill you will earn, with journalists and the public.
Dan Shelley is executive director of the Radio Television Digital News Association, which advocates on behalf of broadcast, cable and digital journalists. Its Voice of the First Amendment Task Force fights threats to press freedom and works to help the public better understand why journalism is essential. He can be reached at dans@rtdna.org or (212) 246-3872.
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