Topic: Courage

Courage Can Mean Pushing Gradually Against Boundaries in Iran
‘Courage is not always about overcoming immediate dangers or reaching immediate ends.’
By Omid Memarian

Government Clampdowns on Newspapers Send Reporting Online
In Belarus, with many people not able to use their computers to read about what is happening, ‘Online is not yet a worthy substitute for newspapers.’
By Andrei Khrapavitski

International News Safety Institute:
By Rodney Pinder

When Corporate Managers Nudge News Decisions
The clash of cultures ‘affects editors’ and reporters’ ability to investigate stories and break new ones.’
By Philippa Green

Trauma Lingers After Escaping the Danger
‘My whole world felt wounded during my first months in the United States: I could not sleep and, when I did, it seemed only to dream weird things.’
By Ignacio ‘Nacho’ Gómez

Western Correspondents Display Cold War Courage
‘I walked and cried. Death seemed a great relief but so difficult to find .... If only the interrogator would call me. I would admit anything.’
By Larry Heinzerling

What We Learned About the Courage of Women Journalists
By Judy Woodruff

A Distinction Journalists Like to Ignore
‘Journalists, both then and now, too readily allow fears of a public backlash to inhibit their actions.’
By Laurel Leff

A War Reporter Tries to Understand What Courage Is
‘Thinking about courage becomes a reflection on humanity.’
By Alexis Sinduhije

Burmese Reporters in Exile Confront Different Risks
Publications must assert independence from ’the international donors upon which they rely for financial support in the absence of a sustainable business model.’
By Aung Zaw

Challenging a Democratic Government's Secrecy
‘Of particular concern to journalists is the lack of support some owners of Canadian news organizations have given as they've tried to contest these policies.’
By Russell Mills

Death Threats Are Sent to Try to Stop Reporting
‘If I kept writing, I thought, the threats would eventually stop because they weren't working.’
By Kim Bolan

Persevering Despite the Dangers
El Tiempo’s investigative editor ‘has become accustomed to receiving floral arrangements and notes sent to regret her death, a form of indirect death threats.’
By Mauricio Lloreda

Repressive Actions Give Way to Business Realities
‘Independent newspapers and privately owned TV and radio stations lack the economies of scale necessary to become sustainable businesses.’
By Shyaka Kanuma

Seeking Support for News Media Safety From the United Nations
By Rodney Pinder

Teamwork Replaces Ego on the Frontlines of War
‘Reckless correspondents endanger not just themselves but everyone in the close-knit teams that operate in Iraq.’
By Barry Moody

The Courage of Journalists in the Middle East
‘Acting with integrity means honestly probing the causes of the many problems and tensions that define the modern Middle East …’
By Rami G. Khouri

Threats Come at Journalists in Pakistan From All Sides
Despite gains in press freedom, news organizations and reporters engage in self-censorship as a strategy to protect themselves and their business.
By Beena Sarwar

Courage as a Story Needing to Be Told
‘Unlike love, which may be an emotion only, courage must manifest itself in action.’
By Lance Morrow

When Risks Make a Story Too Dangerous to Tell
By Alissa J. Rubin

Terror Unleashed
By Sunday Dare

When a Journalist's Voice Is Silenced
In using the Internet to share his views, Li Datong is ‘breaking the wishes of authorities who would prefer he did not speak to the foreign press.’
By Philip J. Cunningham

When Death Seems Inevitable
‘There was a problem with acceptance of death; I was never in a mood to accept torture.’
By Robert Cox

Climbing to Freedom Word By Word
‘… our ethical and political convictions gave us strength to resist and keep advancing.’
By Jose A. Martinez-Soler

Murder, Threats, Fires and Intimidation in Gambia
An anonymous letter sent to a prominent journalist ‘promised to teach a lesson to journalists who persisted in their negative reporting.’
By Alagi Yorro Jallow

Violence in Liberia Extends to Journalists
‘The government warned that any journalist or news organization that violated the ban would be considered and treated as “rebels.”’
By Isaac Bantu

Dictatorship and Democracy Require Different Kinds of Courage
‘Officials begged the magazine not to pursue the story and then they enticed us with rewards. All efforts to derail our reporting failed.’
By Sunday Dare

Words That Made a Difference
By Philip J. Cunningham

Journalism’s Triumphant Journey in Nepal
‘With the royal regime’s overt intentions to muzzle the press and radio, journalists have fought back to keep autocracy at bay and the flame of freedom burning.’
By Kanak Mani Dixit

Self-Censorship as a Reaction to Murders By Drug Cartels
‘The message of this newsroom assault was obvious: stop messing with drug-trafficking affairs.’
By Raymundo Riva-Palacio

A Quiet Courage
Journalists demonstrate this kind of courage ‘while attention is focused elsewhere.’
By Kathleen Currie

When Bearing Witness Overrides a Reporter's Fear
‘… courage is not me, a clunky reporter clutching a notebook and treading on people’s lives, trying to get them to open up their souls.’
By Janine di Giovanni

The Survival Mode of Reporting From a War Zone
‘Our generation is more vocal about trauma we experience than others have been. It can't be avoided when you see this much violence and senseless death.’
By Farnaz Fassihi

Transforming Anger at Journalists' Deaths Into Action
The International News Safety Institute provides training and support for journalists whose work puts them in danger.
By Rodney Pinder

The Muslim Cartoon Controversy Exposed an Absence of Courage
‘… the continuing timidity of the American media looked increasingly like cowardice, appeasement, or better-you-than-me cynicism.’
By Doug Marlette

A Local Newspaper Endures a Stormy Backlash
‘We had the opportunity to tell the story of powerless people who'd been hurt by powerful people who counted on the public never learning what they'd done.’
By Dean Miller

Truth in the Crossfire
In a brutal attack, ‘my truth … was dealt a mortal wound.’
By Jineth Bedoya Lima

A Difficult Journey From Repression to Democracy
Brave journalists who challenge authoritarian regimes often ‘enter a postauthoritarian era full of compromises and new repressions.’
By Ann Cooper

Going to Tell What Others Have Forgotten
A war correspondent seeks out people who live in dangerous war zones to tell their stories and finds that ‘by sharing the fear it helps a lot.’
By Anne Nivat

Assessing the Risks Reporters in Iraq Confront
‘I don’t believe in the journalist as a hero.’
By John Burns

War Teaches Lessons About Fear and Courage
‘In war zones, I would learn about another feeling, one I have yet to define but seems the opposite of fear ….’
By Cheryl Diaz Meyer

Witnessing War to Send Its Images Home
‘What of our colleagues who have trauma engraved on their psyches?’
By Santiago Lyon

Why the News Media Became Irrelevant—And How Social Media Can Help
‘Only the savviest of journalists are using the networks for the real value they provide in today’s culture—as ways to establish relationships and listen to others.’
By Michael Skoler