Last Updated: October 01, 1996
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James M. Lingan of the Federal Republican of Baltimore was killed in 1812 by a mob angry about stories in his newspaper.
Vladimir Ivanov, a reporter for the Glory of Sevtasopol in Ukraine, was beaten to death in 1995 because of his reports on crime.
These are the first and last names to be found on a new memorial in Arlington, Va., honoring 934 slain journalists.
Neither Lingan nor Ivanov fits our image of the hero-journalist killed in combat; an Ernie Pyle, Robert Capa, Francois Sully. Yet their deaths are typical of the dangers facing journalists in many countries today where pursuit of news can mean imprisonment or murder.
The memorial is a 24-foot spiral prism of glass and stainless steel funded by The Freedom Forum and designed by Ralph Appelbaum, architect of the Holocaust Museum. The glass panels are specially treated to give off soft colors against backgrounds of buildings, sky and river. They carry the names and affiliations of the journalists killed on duty.
A chilling reminder that this is a living memorial are the empty panels with spaces for 2,000 additional names.
The memorial is an inspired statement. The sacrifices it documents underscore the importance of ASNE Watch, an effort to monitor abuses of press freedoms around the world and the centerpiece of the International Committee's work this year.
In recent years, the committee has worked closely with three organizations familiar with the problem - the Committee to Protect Journalists, the World Press Freedom Committee and the International Center for Journalists.
In its quarterly publication, Dangerous Assignments, the Committee to Protect Journalists reports that at the end of last year, 182 journalists around the world were in jail. Each had been imprisoned in retaliation for his or her reporting. CPJ says this is the largest number of journalists ever imprisoned at one time.
In addition, according to CPJ, more than 700 individual cases were reported last year of journalists who were physically attacked, threatened, censored or put in jail in retaliation for their work.
The idea for ASNE Watch was conceived by Shelby Coffey of the Los Angeles Times, chair of the International Committee last year. He passed it along to Bob Ritter of Gannett News Service, current chair. Eight countries were selected for close monitoring during the committee's organizational meeting in April: Turkey, Cuba, Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Serbia, Bosnia and Zimbabwe.
These countries fall into three categories:
- Countries where ASNE's efforts can make a difference through approaches to government leaders, to diplomatic corps in Washington, at the U.S. State Department and by the distribution of op-ed pieces that focus attention on nations where the press is threatened, where newspapers are closed, where journalists are jailed or harassed, where tough anti-press laws exist or have been proposed. Each of the eight countries fit this category.
- Countries that are on the itinerary for ASNE's fact-finding mission next January. This includes Singapore and Indonesia.
- Nations from which ASNE is likely to receive applicants for its International Journalism Exchange program.
Matt Storin of the Boston Globe will direct ASNE Watch, working closely with Bill Orme of the Committee to Protect Journalists. Based on their findings, they will make recommendations for actions ASNE might take in response to situations where individual journalists or press freedoms are under attack.
"We selected countries where we thought ASNE's efforts might help bring about a change in government policies that could lead to a freer flow of information," said Ritter. "We plan to file protests and offer assistance to leaders of the respective governments who are willing to work for a free press."
Ritter urges ASNE members who learn of U.S. journalists, particularly those who encounter threatening situations overseas to contact him or Storin.
ASNE has built a solid record of support over the years to the ideal that a free press is vital to creating understanding and tolerance among the people and the nations of the world. ASNE Watch is designed to help bring us closer to that reality.
For more information on journalists and press freedoms under attack, you can
use the Committee to Protect Journalists' new Web site: http://www.cpj.org.
ASNE President Giles is editor and publisher of The Detroit News. E-mail him at rgiles@detnews.com.
