Imagine for a second living in a place where the news is filtered and journalists risk their lives to do their jobs. Think about your job. Would you risk your life for it? Some people will feel passionate enough to say yes, while others may not. Regardless of what side you're on, the purpose of the question should help you appreciate journalists and the freedom of speech we have in the United States. The Committee to Protect Journalists, otherwise known as CPJ, is a non-profit organization that I have recently stumbled upon. This is the first time I have read about this organization, and I can truly say I have a new outlook on journalists around the world.
In America, the First Amendment is something we never have to think or worry about, for we are protected and encouraged to use it everyday. Freedom of the press is something journalists in the United States are guaranteed and certainly use to their advantage, a little more than they should sometimes. With the privilege to be citizens under the First Amendment, journalists have the ability to be completely honest with their audience, and to cover and exploit any stories they believe need to be shown to the public. This outcome is good, for the people are informed about so many different problems all over the world, but also could be bad, for some things should be kept under wraps. It is good to let the problems be addressed to the public, but it could blow up instantly, and for that our First Amendment is not of good use to us. For example, something our government could be doing is not completely ready to be publicized yet, but someone gets a hint, dropping that bombshell to the entire nation, and who knows the chaos that could erupt.
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The CPJ Website is set up to tell the unfair stories of journalists all over the world, and with my research, Cuba is under tight control when it comes to journalism. In Cuba, the people who live under a dictatorship role are not subject to freedom of the press like we are here in America. On the homepage of the website designated to Cuban incidents, the headline reads "Worst year on record: 259 journalists jailed."
In a specific incident in Cuba, “Lázaro Yuri Valle Roca told CPJ he was apprehended by a group of men in the Miramar neighborhood of Havana, on March 20, 2016, who beat him with their fists, handcuffed him, and took him to a police station.” Valle Roca was detained because he questioned the authority of an official that had tried to stop him from reporting on a protest, as he believed the man confronting him was not a state official. He was beaten and imprisoned for five days, for "allegedly attacking an official." This also was not the first time he was beaten and detained for trying to do his job, especially at this specific protests.
Many journalists all around the world are jailed, beaten, or killed, just for trying to do their job. With "46 percent living in Not Free media environments", it leaves almost half of the world's journalists in fear of their lives just for trying to do their job. Not only are these journalists risking their lives to get the people the news they need, but that statistic holds that most, if not all of that 46%, are most likely left in the dark about ground breaking news that could be affecting them everyday.
As a nation, we should be grateful and giving thanks to our journalists and country for allowing them to give us news, and thanking them for informing us. We are lucky as a nation to be in a country that allows us to receive this news in an uncensored way, in which many countries don't live in. Everyone should become more informed about CPJ.org, in which you could find many stories of jailed, beaten, and killed journalists across the entire world, and how you could give back or inform others about this problem. Join in on informing others about The Committee to Protect Journalists, no one deserves to be left in the dark, or punished for doing something they love.
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