The Amateur Photographer

In this week’s civic issues blog, my goal was to assess different organizations that work towards achieving freedom and justice for jailed journalists. Although my civic issues blogs vary greatly from the content I will be discussing in my issue brief, I am going to continue with this narrative because not only is it interesting, but it’s important. My issue brief will be following the balance between journalism and politics in our world today and how we as citizens must adapt to the system. I will be suggesting a policy that creates media literacy courses in K-12 education so that growing individuals will be aware of how to identify disparities with misinformation in the news system. This would be a demonstration of government protection relating to journalism- a different take than I would normally choose, but I think it will be interesting and worthwhile, and I could see something like this being implemented in the future. 

Anyways, back to the important content for today’s blog: 

The first organization I will be highlighting is the James W. Foley Foundation. James Foley was a freelance American journalist and video reporter. He worked as a war correspondent in Syria during the Syrian Civil War and was abducted on November 22, 2012. He was murdered by decapitation in August of 2014 and was the first American citizen killed by ISIS. 

This organization’s goal lies in creating safety for journalists. Their mission states, “We catalyze action, research and policy to advocate for freedom for all US nationals wrongfully detained or held hostage abroad, to ensure government accountability to prioritize their safe return and to educate and protect journalists and international travelers.” The website for this organization outlines their values: Moral courage, integrity, compassion, and commitment. The foundation takes action by fundraising for the safe return of journalists abroad and they hold events to spread awareness. They track the countries in which reporters are unlawfully detained and their website even presents a list of all of the current journalists in captivity worldwide. 

This organization stands out to me among all of the others as it is inspired by experience. James Foley was an award winning journalist that touched the lives of many and spread his work globally. Creating these organizations in the mirror image of those that made great contributions and sacrifices for the field of journalism is a great way to honor their legacy as these people often become unsung heroes fading into the static of the news cycle. 

The second organization I will be highlighting is Reporters Without Borders (RSF USA). This foundation “carries out the mission to protect everyone’s right to information and to defend journalists working both internationally and in the United States. RSF USA monitors press freedom violations, raises awareness, advocates for policies supporting to information, exposes bad actors, and mobilizes the public in the United States, Canada, and the English-speaking Caribbean.” The website features a donation portal and many other ways to donate via mail and other routes. RSF raises awareness on the current climate for press freedom in a variety of ways such as: Liaising with the lawyers of journalists arrested/attacked in the region, publications on US freedom, working with congress to raise awareness on individual cases/priority countries, collecting data on press freedom violations in order to produce annual rankings for the region in RSF’s World Press Freedom Index. 

This organization is one of the most prominent in the US and is the proud owner of the US Press Freedom Tracker, one of the premiere tools to show journalistic violations of freedom in a variety of ways. I think that this organization is so special because of its long history of contributions. RSF has been working toward defending press freedom for more than 30 years, and they have made great strides within the field. In collaboration with other organizations, RSF has managed to have a global impact in defending journalists and access to information. 

Some other honorable mentions for great organizations working toward the freedom of journalists are: The Committee to Protect Journalists, Hostage US, and Wallace House Center for Journalists. They all share the commitment to creating a worldwide free press without fear of detainment while working. 

These organizations are key to taking steps in the right direction for journalistic rights and free news. Independently-run organizations that contribute to the success of the media have a unique subset of powers and passion that a government cannot provide to the cause. I think that these are doing some of the most important work within government and journalism, and they need to be championed, so hopefully this blog brings some light to the organizations keeping speech free. I loved dissecting this topic and I really appreciated writing this blog for the past few weeks. 

All in all, while reflecting on the past few blogs I have done surrounding this topic, I have come to appreciate the journalism profession even more than I already did. I think that taking this angle and educating myself even further about the relationship between the press and the government was a great move and I am appreciative for the opportunity to do so in a classroom setting; this exercise of blogging is a practice that I think should be implemented in all English classes across campus. It provides a reflective and self-educating opportunity to students that changes their thinking compared to any other assignment. Thanks for reading!

Citations:

“Jim’s Story.” James W. Foley, jamesfoleyfoundation.org/james-w-foley. Accessed 26 Mar. 2024.

“RSF USA.” RSF, rsf.org/en/rsf-usa. Accessed 26 Mar. 2024.