Dangerous Truth
This was written for the Church Times in June 2008
In the Church we have an ambivalent attitude towards journalists. Blame of the media is almost a mantra – especially for its obsession with sex in the vicarage and its appetite for lurid stories. I’ve listened for years to allegations of bias, distortion, sensationalism, and dumbing down, and agree that they’re not unfounded. I could produce as much evidence as the next woman.
But there is a very different side to journalism too, which is profoundly challenging to the Church. Two significant events over the last ten days have paid tribute to this. The first was the One World Awards which drew together NGOs and media companies to celebrate some outstanding global contributions to broadcast and print journalism over this last year. The second was the dedication of the new skylight sculpture, Breathing, erected on top of BBC Broadcasting House in London to commemorate journalists killed in the work of newsgathering.
It is appropriate that the two events came close together. In the award ceremony, we saw some amazing films produced by people whose commitment to telling the story on behalf of others took them into places of restricted access, hideouts and undercover reporting. Clips from the skilful short-listed programmes produced tears and laughter almost in equal proportion. Days later, the memorial inauguration reminded us of the costs of covering the news in these conditions, and the death toll of those who have been killed in an attempt to open up truths which the powerful want to hide.
The statistics are very sobering. According to Richard Sambrook, the BBC’s director of Global News, every week for the last ten years at least two journalists or news staff somewhere in the world have lost their lives, and numbers are increasing. More than 200 were killed since the start of 2007, with 160 attacks on news people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo alone. Nearly 90% of the murders on journalists there were committed by military or other security services. The losses are both personal and global. Two young BBC reporters killed this last fortnight – Nasteh Dahir in Somalia and Abdul Samad Rohani in Afghanistan– were well-known voices to millions and admired for their fearlessness. They faced threats from Taleban, corrupt officials and ruthless drug lords for the murder of journalists is one of the cheapest forms of censorship, and intimidates others into repression and silence.
The sculpture which commemorates their bravery and commitment now projects a beam of light from Broadcasting House one kilometre into the night sky for thirty minutes every night. It is almost biblical in its symbolism. There is so much in the Gospels about exposure to the light, which penetrates the darkness with truth. And the light that beams from the new sculpture reminds us of all journalists who have died refusing to be intimidated by blackouts, embargoes, cover-ups, deceptions, lies, and tyrants who suppress the truth.
Truth is from God wherever it operates and its very nature is to set people free. St John identifies Truth with Christ, and we cannot come to Christ without being prepared to face the truth and be freed from idolatry and self-delusion. Those who are called to be professional truth-tellers are on the front line of the battle for freedom. Open reporting of news is one of the greatest gifts which any culture can offer its citizens. For security will never come through those who stockpile weapons and trade in arms. It can only come through those who create open access to truth, hold others accountable, and are ready to expose wrongdoing whatever the cost.
Cambridge
June 2008
