Requiem for a journalist
Yesterday, I received an email from Lise Olsen, an investigative reporter at the Houston Chronicle [via the GIJN’s listserv]. In it, she implored the global community of investigative reporters to take action following news that one of our own was murdered in Mexico.
An excerpt:
“So it is really important for us AS A COMMUNITY OF INVESTIGATIVE REPORTERS to react strongly to the news this week of an assasination of a young online editor in Mexico [Jaime Guadalupe González Domínguez] – who lived minutes from America – and of yet another armed attack on El Siglo de Torreon, one of the most important and few remaining strong voices for press freedom in Northeast Mexico, which has been devasted by violence.”
Every time I tweet news like this, I say “It could happen to any of us.” Really, what I’m thinking is it could happen to me. And I know others are thinking the same thing.
I’m working on a story that requires me to ask questions about dangerous people. Every day, I wonder if they’re going to find out and do something about it.
When I walk to the shop at night, I keep one eye on the road in case a car slows down. Parked cars make me nervous, as do men in hoodies. I rehearse the moment in my head – escaping as bullets whiz past, hiding behind a hedge and firing back with an imaginary gun that I don’t own. I know that if it happens, it won’t go down like that. It’ll happen quickly and I will either live or die.
In reality, my fears are probably groundless. So I tell myself. I know these people have killed before. I pray that they won’t kill a journalist, that doing so would raise too many questions – that they’re smarter than that.
Yet if they did, how would my “community” react? What would they do about it? Would they tweet, “So sad, could happen to any of us”? Or would they actually do something?
Where is the “community” of investigative reporters?
Even with organisations like IRE and GIJN (who both do awesome things), I’m not sure we have a “community” of investigative reporters – not in the true sense of the word. We don’t regularly interact with each other as much as we should.
Let me give an example: NICAR. NICAR stands for the National Institute of Computer-Assisted Reporting. It’s a training institute run by Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) and the Missouri school of journalism.
A community of news technologists has sprouted up around it. As well as holding a yearly conference, its members are constantly chatting to each other – exchanging tips, asking for advice – via the NICAR listserv. Every day, I get at least five emails. If you asked me to ID its members by Twitter handle, I could probably give you 20-30 names.
Could I do that with my own community? No. Beyond a few “big names”, I couldn’t give you a list of names the way I could with NICAR. I could name a few but not enough.
That needs to change. With networks like Twitter, there is no reason for us not to be actively collaborating and helping each other.
Requiem
I didn’t know who Jaime Guadalupe González Domínguez was until yesterday. I wish I had. We lived thousands of miles apart and spoke different languages. Yet we had so much in common. We both run small, independent news sites. We were both trying to make a difference by exposing the truth.
The last line of Lise’s email struck me:
“And do not hesitate to reach out to Javier and others who are subject to these attacks via e-mail, Twitter or Facebook and tell them personally that – WE as investigative reporters stand together.”
“Dear IRE Friends –
I recently wrote for an upcoming book a summary of many recent attacks on journalists in Mexico – and how these attacks have specifically and repeatedly have targeted newspapers and media companies that have most supported investigative reporting and investigative reporting teams particularly in northern Mexico. With a new President taking over in Mexico, I and others were hoping the bombings of newspaper offices, and assasinations of journalists might stop. So it is really important for us AS A COMMUNITY OF INVESTIGATIVE REPORTERS to react strongly to the news this week of an assasination of a young online editor in Mexico – who lived minutes from America – and of yet another armed attack on El Siglo de Torreon, one of the most important and few remaining strong voices for press freedom in Northeast Mexico, which has been devasted by violence.
Here’s what you can do and why you should act.
What has happened:
Siglo de Torreon, one of the most important voices in Northeast Mexico, has continued to be the subject of armed attack s DESPITE police “protection.” Siglo requested assistance AFTER its offices were twice attacked by gunmen and after a group of its journalists were kidnapped. This week, Javier Garza, a respected editor, active member of the Interamerican Press Association, a voice for press freedom and one of the prominent speakers at IRE’s border workshop in Laredo, said that pólice made things WORSE. (read more here: https://knightcenter.utexas.edu/blog/00-13140-police-protection-attracted-more-aggressions-said-editor-mexican-daily-el-siglo-de-tor)
Meanwhile, the editor of a much smaller online only publication was shot dead in Ojinaga, which is only minutes from the Texas Big Bend border town of Presidio. The attack killed 38-year-old Jaime Guadalupe González Domínguez. Our friends – including IRE members and former conference speakers at El Diario de Juarez – are reporting about how the gunmen used special bullets in the attack to ensure this editor’s death. Hours later, the website went dark… It has become common for idealistic journalists in Mexico who believe in freedom of the press to fight violence and censorship via their own websites – and they are isolated indeed.
What you can do is SHARE this information with the writers and editors on your editorial page. And if you or your editor or publisher is active in CPJ or IAPA or RSF, urge him or her to take action and write letters. Or, if you are able, write letters or cover this yourself.
And do not hesitate to reach out to Javier and others who are subject to these attacks via e-mail, twitter or facebook and tell them personaly that – WE as investigative reporters stand together.
Lise M. Olsen
Investigative Reporter
Acting Deputy Projects Editor
Houston Chronicle.”
The Muckraker 