Citing the necessity of a free press to report on international injustices and terrorist activities, faculty members of the University of Florida Department of Journalism praised the valor of two recently slain American journalists while condemning their beheadings by terrorists.

Terry Anderson, adjunct faculty member and a former Associated Press reporter who was held hostage in Beirut from 1985 to 1991 and chronicled that time in the book “Den of Lions,” said: “These two fine journalists, like all their colleagues, knew that journalism has become one of the most dangerous professions in the world. They believed, like their colleagues, that finding and telling the truth was important enough to do anyway. Their vicious murders gain ISIS nothing but more contempt.”

Two American journalists, Steven Sotloff and James Foley, were recently killed, their beheadings released in online videos by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terror group. Sotloff, a freelance journalist who had written for Time and Foreign Policy, had been missing since August 2013. The video of his apparent beheading was released Tuesday. Foley, a war correspondent, was kidnapped in November 2012 and was on assignment in Syria. A video of his beheading was released in August.

Clay Calvert, director of the Marion B. Brechner First Amendment Project and Brechner Eminent Scholar in Mass Communication, said: “It’s sadly not surprising that American journalists are being killed. They are high-profile symbols of what makes the United States such a great nation – namely, freedom of the press.

“Terrorists will always try to silence a free press because it is a free press that exposes their atrocities for all the world to see, revealing them to be the cowards that they are,” Calvert added. “ISIS will not scare American journalists from covering their crimes.”

Kim Walsh-Childers, a professor of journalism, said it’s important for the public to remember the willingness of journalists like Foley and Sotloff to risk and give their lives to ensure that the public has accurate information from critical areas around the world.

“How would we know what’s really happening in the world’s danger zones without courageous men and women like these? And isn’t their sacrifice worthy of just as much respect and gratitude as those who serve in the military? After all, they go to the same places—but the journalists don’t carry weapons, and they can’t call in air support if they get in trouble,” she said.

John Freeman, associate professor of journalism, added, “Seeing our colleagues, our comrades, our brothers in the profession meet this end is simply disgusting and disturbing.”

Diane McFarlin, dean of the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications, said: “Journalists who pursue their work in harm’s way are the most courageous standard-bearers of the free press. James Foley and Steven Sotloff could be considered heroes—not because they lost their lives, but because they put an informed public ahead of their own safety.”

Posted: September 3, 2014
Category: College News, Marion B. Brechner First Amendment Project News
Tagged as: Clay Calvert, Diane McFarlin, John Freeman, Kim Walsh-Childers, Terry Anderson