Reporters Without Borders

There was another shooting today, this time in the newsroom of the Capital Gazette, a newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland. The paper was founded in 1727, making it one of the oldest newspapers in America. This is breaking news, so the motives of the suspect, who has been taken into custody, are not yet known. But the attacks on press freedom in the US over the past two years make it easy to jump to conclusions.

“Is what happened in the Capital Gazette newsroom in Annapolis, Maryland, the equivalent of the Charlie Hebdo killing or of the last bombing against journalists in Kabul?” asked Christophe Deloire, Secretary-General of Reporters Without Borders (RSF). “In any case, this is a new tragedy for journalism, which is the victim of increasing violence globally–even in democracies.” For what it’s worth, the US ranks only 45th out of 180 countries in RSF’s press freedom index. We were 32nd in 2013.

Today, I made a donation to Reporters Without Borders, an NGO that helps to protect and defend journalists worldwide.

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