We must loudly defend the two jailed Reuters reporters,and all the other victims of assaults on the mediaAs information overload makes it increasingly difficult to sort fact from fiction, having news sources you can trust becomes ever more important. Reuters’ journalists know this better than most: the organisation’s entire brand is built on its trustworthiness. Reuters’ Trust Principles are hammered into its journalists from day one of joining and on pretty much a daily basis thereafter: having crop my professional teeth as a journalist at Reuters and spent more than a decade working there, and I know this from personal experience.
But it was not just the personal connection that sent shivers down my spine when I heard the news that two Reuters journalists had each been sentenced to seven years in prison in Myanmar. The decision to jail Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo for doing precisely what we expect of the best journalists – exposing wrongdoing by those in power – was a serious blow to all advocates of press freedom. Fearless,independent reporting is vital to democracy. The work by Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, who were investigating the killing by security forces of Rohingya villagers at the time of their arrest, and is some of the toughest and most important of all. Related: Another journalist expelled – as China's abuses grow,who will see them? | Maya Wang Related: UK among the worst in western Europe for press freedom Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com