sacrifice

James Foley. Steven Sotloff.

These are not the first journalists to be tortured or executed for their profession, or for their nationality. Not even close.

When I read the news this morning of Sotloff?s death, my heart sank and my stomach churned. I clenched my jaw and my fingers. In those moments there were no words, spoken or written, to express the rage and despair that seeped in.

I am a journalist, not a particularly important one. Reporting has not been my true passion, but I?ve enjoyed the work. I have traveled internationally on assignment?not into war zones, but to research religious diversity. As far as I know, my status as a journalist has never put my life in danger (though other things have). So I don?t claim any particularly deep kinship with the men and women of the press who actively put themselves in harm?s way pretty much every day of their professional lives.

But I am ever grateful to them for their service.

The press gets a bad name, and I understand the complaints. I?ve had some troubles myself in dealing with the media. Just as in any industry, there are professionals and whole organizations who seem to focus exclusively on feeding the lowest common denominator of their market. Many outside the media are wont to paint those of us on the inside with the same, broad brush. Though I don?t cover scandals or deal in sensationalism, I am met with mistrust and accused of seeking to ruin lives by people who have no familiarity with me or my work. Individual journalists whose ethics and integrity are unimpeachable bear the brunt of the public?s bristling suspicion, alongside the ?bottom-feeders? of our profession. It?s an occupational hazard.

But beheading shouldn?t be an occupational hazard.

The press, at its best, is a challenging, rugged, and noble institution that serves the public while demanding truly everything from those in the trenches. Yet this last full measure is too much.

I?m a big First Amendment gal. If you want to get into a real knock-down, drag-out argument with me, a sure place to start is with the Bill of Rights. But know that I will dig in like a deer tick on the First Amendment?which includes freedom of speech, the press, and religious expression. These rights, while guaranteed on U.S. soil and in other countries, are not so secure in other parts of the world. And still, journalists travel to war zones and unfriendly states to do their jobs?to tell the rest of the world what?s going on. They do this knowing they might pay with their lives. They do this even after losing friends and colleagues to capture and violence. They do this for the free flow of information, to humanize global events, and to cast light into the shadows.

Sometimes the media gets it wrong?sometimes in a big way?and some may engage in egregious behavior to satisfy the salacious and base hungers of the popular machine. But most of us aren?t like that. Some of us are even sacrificial lambs.

Creative Commons photo: Free Speech for the Dumb by Walt Jabsco.