Fallen Journalists Memorial echo opinion

Journalism tragedy anniversary. In fact, the deadliest assault against journalists in U.S. history occurred on June 28, 2018, when a gunman opened fire at the offices of the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, killing five and injuring two. Echo by David Dreier:

Ernie Pyle Memorial Ie Shima Okinawa

At the Capital Gazette newspaper, we will always remember 

• Rob Hiaasen 
• Wendi Winters
• Gerald Fischman 
• John McNamara and 
• Rebecca Smith 

They were the mortality victims along with the brave women, and men who survived the attack and immediately went back to work serving their community.

Their deaths are not isolated. Every year, hundreds of journalists are attacked, imprisoned and murdered around the world. Some are killed because of what they do. The Washington Post’s Jamal Khashoggi and the Wall Street Journal’s Daniel Pearl are among the victims. Sadly, as we saw last year at the Capital Gazette, American journalists are vulnerable to reprisals for their work on U.S. soil. Other tragedies have included the 2015, fatal shooting of reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward of Roanoke, Virginia’s WDBJ TV and the 2001, anthrax death of photo-journalist Robert Stevens of The Sun newspaper in Boca Raton, Florida.

Others have perished because of where they are. 

Throughout history, journalists have been on the front lines of conflicts from World War II to Iraq. 

• Ernie Pyle
• Michael Kelly and 
• David Bloom are among the journalists who perished in the quest to keep the public informed about the movements and actions of our military.

No matter the circumstances of their deaths, these journalists and their sacrifices deserve to be remembered. In a free society, a free press is a basic tenet. The fourth estate acts as both an expression and a guardian of liberty. That’s why we are beginning a campaign to erect a monument to fallen journalists in our nation’s capital.

The Tribune Publishing family is grateful to Senators Ben Cardin, a Maryland Democrat; and Ohio Republican Rob Portman, along with Representatives Grace Napolitano, a California Democrat; and Kevin Hern, an Oklahoma Republican, who have introduced legislation to establish the Fallen Journalists Memorial in Washington, D.C. 

Journalists who have sacrificed their lives in the name of a free press will receive an everlasting tribute in the memorial.

We have established the Fallen Journalists Memorial Foundation under the auspices of the non-profit National Press Club Journalism Institute. The Foundation will build support and plan for the design, construction, operation, maintenance and preservation of the memorial. Initial funding is being provided by the Annenberg Foundation and the Ferro Foundation.

The safety of journalists in the U.S. and around the world must be a priority because bigger values are at stake.

"Murder is a form of brutal censorship that is disrupting the flow of information,” said Joel Simon of the Committee to Protect Journalists. “People around the world are increasingly recognizing what's at stake. Political leaders must stand up, speak out, and deliver justice on behalf of the journalists who gave their lives to bring us the news."

This is a call to action. We must honor the memories of the journalists who have perished so that they can serve as a reminder of the essential value of journalism to our democracy.

David Dreier is Chairman of Tribune Publishing Co. and the Fallen Journalists Memorial Foundation, fallenjournalists.org.

Annapolis Maryland ~ Rising!

Five people were murdered while they were just doing their job, in the Annapolis Capital-Gazette, newsroom.  (Echo opinion published in The Baltimore Sun)

Tragically, the gun violence murders on June 28, 2018, causing the deaths of Wendi Winters, Rob Hiaasen, John McNamara, Gerald Fischman and Rebecca Smith, forever changed their families, the survivors of this (gun) massacre, the entire newsroom family, our (Annapolis) city, our state (Maryland), and our nation. 

Capital-Gazette news

Indeed, the entire world is jarred by this attack, on journalists and on the free press.

This horrible event has impacted me deeply. Never, did I imagine that as mayor, that I would be dealing with the deadliest attack on the press in the history of our country.

What happened at The Capital  news has affected all of us in different ways. Many of us knew the victims personally.

Make no mistake, this shooting was an attack on the freedom of the press. And I will not stand by and let people forget Wendi, Rob, Gerald, Rebecca, and John.

At their funerals, many of the family members and reporters asked me, and in fact, said to the world in many different ways, “Please do not forget about them. Don’t let their lives be forgotten.”

My urgency about the timing of this benefit concerts comes from these conversations.

There is no right way or wrong way to grieve. Everyone processes grief and trauma in different ways. It’s never too early or too late to show your support for the families and the survivors.

There has been an outpouring of support from our community and endless requests from businesses on how they can help. These calls started immediately after the shooting and continue until this day. 

I am extremely proud and lucky to be mayor of Annapolis, such a compassionate city.

One of the calls came from an international recording artist, Good Charlotte – a band that got its start in our town. They offered to headline a charitable concert to help raise money for the family fund. We decided to seize the day and plan a concert that uses music to help the healing process, bring our community together, and show support for journalists and for the first responders.

We wanted to include well-known journalists in the event as well to talk about the importance of freedom of the press. There is a healing power in music and free speech. That is the driving force behind this benefit.

The city should have an opportunity to express its support for the families, the newspaper staff, and protection of freedom of the press.

This is why I felt it was necessary to have this event now – on the one month anniversary of the shooting, while the calls were coming in to offer assistance, and while the news was in our collective consciousness.

Victims of the Annapolis shooting and their families will be honored.....

There's a tradition of holding concerts to bring a healing power through music and to raise money for victims. There was a concert for 9/11 ~ just over a month after the deadliest attack on US soil, with terrorism targeted in New York City, Washington DC and (via the air crash United Airlines 93) in Pennsylvania.

We must also continue to memorialize the courage of journalists.

Indeed, Annapolis will support community-based events that bring our people together.

Brighter days are ahead for Annapolis.

Arizona echo ~ tribute to journalism and the Annapolis Capital Gazette

Telling the truth is life risking:

The lives lost in Annapolis expose the absurdity of Trump’s anti-media tirades ~ echo opinion from the Arizona Daily Sun

The lives lost at the Capital Gazette newsroom in Annapolis on Thursday are a powerful reminder of just how false the press-as-the-enemy narrative is.

Donald J. Trump proclaims media outlets “the enemy of the American People.” A popular conservative writer says he “can’t wait for the vigilante squads to start gunning journalists.” Walmart for a time sold T-shirts reading “Rope. Tree. Journalist. SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED.” Donald Trump has a problem with the truth. It gets in the way of the narrative he is selling to an all-too-eager public.

In fairness, we don’t know what role — if any at all — the hate out there played in the actions of Jarrod W. Ramos, the suspected shooter who had a long-running dispute with the Capital Gazette over stories written about a harassment case involving a woman Ramos had known in high school.

But anyone being suckered into the “fake news” narrative being peddled by Trump and his cronies should take a moment to learn more about the five who died in the attack. Some of the victims were lifelong writers deeply invested in their communities. They were dedicated to informing the people of Anne Arundel County about what they needed to know to live their lives. They held power to account. They woke us to shared joys, sorrows and new ways of seeing the world.

Such as Rob Hiaasen, 59, a writer and editor. He wrote about waking up later in life to the terrible discrimination of his hometown in Florida, which he’d been oblivious to as a child.

“I was taken to Fort Lauderdale beach before I could even swim. If there was unrest elsewhere in the country, it surely didn’t happen on unspoiled Fort Lauderdale beach. Little did I know or learn in school.

“In 1961, there was a series of ‘wade-ins’ by black residents on the all-white beach at Las Olas Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale. A year before, my beach had been immortalized and romanticized in the popular beach movie, ‘Where the Boys Are.’ There weren’t any black beachgoers in the movie, either.

“Organized by the local NAACP, the wade-in participants — tired of trudging to the ‘blacks-only’ sand scrap south of the ‘good’ beach — were greeted by threats of police arrest and crowds of whites brandishing bottles and bats. The number of black participants increased, and eventually, a Broward Circuit judge allowed the protests to continue. Broward County’s beaches were, from then on, desegregated.

“I had no idea when and how this happened until I was at the beach a few years ago and noticed a historic marker chronicling the wade-ins.”

Gerald Fischman, 61, the newspaper’s editorial page editor, would work all hours of the day and night to craft the paper’s view. He wrote last year about the “lake-sized cesspools of hatred on the internet” from which those who commit hate crimes “can draw moral support.”

He went on:

“That leaves the decent 99 percent of society with only a few tools. One is relentless prosecution of people who commit hate crimes. Another is refusal to be silent when someone parades their bigotry. Free speech is a sacred American right. But no one has the the right to expect that speech that spouts hatred won’t be answered and denounced — or that criminal acts can be justified by the perpetrators’ deep ignorance and bigotry.”

Wendi Winters, 65, was a community correspondent who loved story-telling. John McNamara, 56, covered sports for decades. Rebecca Smith, 34, was a sales assistant who had been on the job less than a year.

The Capital Gazette victims lived for informing the people of their community, and they died for that.

Do we take this personally here at the Courant? You bet we do. The Capital Gazette is a sister paper of ours, but it goes way beyond that. Here, in The Courant’s newsroom every day, journalists dedicate their time, energy and passion to telling the truth about the world around us. Want to see what the world looks like without those men and women on the front lines? Watch an episode or two of “The Handmaid’s Tale.” Those who would paint the media as the enemy are being led down a perilous path.

The five who died in Annapolis died doing what they believed in, and we will cherish their memories always.

They are not the enemy. The media is not the enemy.

What is dangerous beyond words is a nation being robbed of its ability to learn the truth.