EDITORIAL - Silencing the messenger

There is only one way to stop the deadly open season on journalists. That is to arrest the killers – the triggermen and the brains – and to prosecute, convict and punish them. Other proposals are mere stopgap measures, and one even smacks of a government attempt to manipulate the news. Those planning to "embed" soldiers in dangerous military missions to do the work of legitimate journalists, ostensibly to keep the press out of harm’s way, betray their ignorance of the role of the mass media. The proponents should be pulled out of the military to head a martial law-style news management and propaganda machine.

Journalists – especially in this land of terrorists, rebels and hoodlums of all types – are fully aware of the risks of their profession. During the Abu Sayyaf hostage crisis, journalists were among those taken hostage by the gang led by Ghalib "Commander Robot" Andang in Sulu. Members of the press encounter threats and harassment even in day-to-day coverage. Their telephones are tapped and their movements placed under surveillance by goons and sometimes even by go-vernment authorities.

Because of the risks, a number of journalists own guns. This, however, is not enough protection when a journalist incurs the ire of individuals or groups with even more guns. When it comes to firepower, a journalist rarely stands a chance against the heavily armed goons of a gambling lord or local political kingpin. Often these political warlords have the local police, prosecutors and judges in their payroll. When the warlord is the mastermind, how can the murder of a journalist be solved?

To be sure, there are journalists who are abusive and irresponsible in the exercise of press freedom. Public officials disgusted with such journalists long ago coined the term "AC-DC" – attack and collect, defend and collect – to describe corrupt members of the press. There are those who, lacking faith in the justice system, think murder is their best recourse when they are deliberately and maliciously maligned by a journalist.

There is no excuse for murder, however, especially when it is simply meant to silence valid criticism of official acts. The best protection for journalists is to show that killing them does not pay. The murderers must be caught, pro-secuted and sent to prison.