As a former journalist, I am very concerned about the recent arrests of journalists, including Don Lemon and Georgia Fort, which seem to lack any legitimate justification.
The role of journalists is to report what they see and give voice to those affected by events unfolding around them. When they face intimidation or arrest for doing their work, it tells me that we’ve reached a critical point.
Kathleen Chu (@progressreimagined)
As a former journalist, I am very concerned about the recent arrests of Don Lemon and Georgia Fort, which seem to lack any legitimate justification. The role of journalists is to report what they see and give voice to those affected by events unfolding around them. When they face intimidation or arrest for doing their work, it tells me that we’ve reached a critical point. Journalism has come under attack in recent years. In Gaza, local reporters are regularly targeted and killed. In the U.S., journalists are being detained in what seems to be a deliberate effort to silence them and send a warning. Independent journalists are singled out first because they are most vulnerable due to a lack of corporate legal support. An attack on one journalist is an attack on journalism itself, and on the public's right to know. It is an effort to make truth harder for all of us to reach. What is being stripped away through these arrests is essentially our fundamental human rights: the right to free speech, to protest, and to a free press. When one human right is violated, all human rights are weakened. And the erosion is happening rapidly, not gradually. Reporters are trained to remain neutral and typically avoid sharing political opinions. But neutrality cannot mean silence. Now is the time to stand up.
FediForum
ProPublica
Tad Lispy
JA Westenberg