The Mighty Heart

Killing the Messenger

Brussels

13 September 2007

Despite the terrible ending to the story we are about to see tonight, I believe we come here to celebrate – to pay tribute to a braveheart, a truly mighty heart, of world journalism.

Daniel Pearl endured terror and suffered a shocking death at the hands of fanatical, cold-hearted murderers – and let us not hide that that is exactly what they were – because of his dedication to honest journalism.

Like thousands of others around the world, he was simply doing his job, of keeping the world informed.

A job that is unglamorous, often unrecognised, usually unappreciated – but vital for the freedom and wellbeing of the rest of us.

In the West we often underrate the job of journalists. We are seen through a tabloid lens as muck-rakers and paparazzi.

We easily forget—or don’t think about until tragedy strikes—the thousands of workaday journalists around the world who maintain the daily information flows on which our governments, businesses and free societies depend in order to survive and prosper.

Just think of a world without the news thousands of journalists provide. Every time a journalist is killed, another window to the light is slammed shut.

The safety of journalists in war, conflict and other danger areas is the concern of the International News Safety Institute.

We have just concluded a global inquiry into the deaths of journalists worldwide – the most comprehensive of its kind – and we have uncovered some disturbing facts—most of them little known both outside and inside the news business.

More than a thousand journalists and other news media staff have died trying to cover the news over the past 10 years.

Most of them were not international war correspondents as one might expect, but ordinary reporters and editors in their own countries, trying to shine the light of exposure on the dark recesses of crime and corruption.

They were murdered, coldly and deliberately, to shut them up and intimidate their colleagues.

Most shocking of all, nine out of ten of their killers escaped justice, due largely to official indifference in the countries where they were born, lived and worked.

The worst killing ground for the news media today is of course Iraq, where 226 have died since the invasion.

The vast majority were Iraqis – the eyes and ears of the world on their poor country – as they tried to exercise their newfound “press freedom” for the first time.

But “peaceful” nations, such as Russia, Colombia, India, Algeria and a host of others, have shameful records.

And the situation continues to deteriorate – 168 dead last year, a record. This year so far the toll stands at 132, and we have three months still to go.

Daniel Pearl is one off the most famous cases of kidnapping—and one of the few in his time. But kidnapping and hostage-taking have since joined murder as a common weapon against journalists.

2004 saw a surge in kidnappings. We counted 5 in 2005, 21 in 2006 and 40 by the middle of this year. Thirteen of those kidnapped this year were murdered.

What can we do?

We must end impunity for journalist killers. This merely encourages more of the same. A bullet becomes the cheapest and most risk-free form of censorship.

We were heartened when the UN Security Council – responding to a two-year campaign by INSI, the International Federation of Journalists and the European Broadcasting Union – passed Resolution 1738 last December on the safety of journalists in conflict. This demands an end to impunity.

We will continue to monitor incidents and keep the UN Secretary General informed.

INSI will continue to fund-raise for free safety training for colleagues in daily danger who are unable to afford their own.

We have helped almost 700 journalists in danger zones thus far, but this is merely a beginning as we are constrained by lack of funds. We need INSI to become the charity of choice for those who appreciate the value of news and of journalists.

We also demand open inquiries and effective action in judicial systems where journalists are murdered. We do not make any special pleading – we merely request states to pursue the murderers of journalists with the same vigour that they apply to others.

It should not be necessary for Mariane Pearl to have to sue to find the truth of what happened to Daniel and to bring accountability and punishment to those involved in his murder.

The families and friends of hundreds of other slain journalists also cry out for justice.

As we tonight celebrate Daniel Pearl and his work—and rage at his untimely and unjust death—let us remember the multitude that have died in relative anonymity, recalled by name only by their families, friends and colleagues.

And let us celebrate all the Mighty Hearts still out there – in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Russia, in Colombia, in Mexico, in Sri Lanka, in Bangladesh, in Ukraine, in Nepal, in occupied Palestine – who continue against all odds to gather the news and keep us informed.

Their bravery is amazing. Their dedication to the truth humbling.

Without them we would quite simply not be able to celebrate our freedom and enlightenment here tonight.

They are all Daniel Pearls, each and every one. I am sure he would be the first to applaud them.