It's only natural.

Humankind has been "killing the messenger" or looking for a scapegoat since well before Sophocles and Shakespeare wrote about the unfortunate outcomes for those bearing what was deemed bad news. 

I'm lucky I was born American and get to work doing what I love in a country where many people hate journalists but — for the most part — don't murder us.

Occasionally the unthinkable does happen. Who can forget the shooting at the The Capital, a newspaper in Maryland in 2018 when a mentally disturbed man with a grudge against the paper, killed four journalists and a salesperson? The shooter has since pleaded guilty but not responsible due to insanity. His trial is expected to begin in June.

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We hate bad news. We hate news we don't agree with. We hate news we perceive to be slanted against our own beliefs. We hate the feeling that our values are being attacked by the news.

Monday was World Press Freedom Day. I know, I know, every day is a celebration of something and more often than not it is something inane like national cheeseburger day or veggie tacos or tortoises or something like that. But, despite how you may personally feel about the media, this one is important.

A journalism professor once told me that without the media watching and asking questions then the government can do whatever it wants. National World Press Freedom Day commemorates the freedom of the press and reminds governments worldwide of their duty to uphold the human right to freedom of expression.

Don't hate the messenger. Don't like how the news is presented on a certain television network? Find another. Don't like how your local newspaper is bringing you the news? Buy another. 

There was a woman several years ago who tried to get me to write a story about a state prisoner she was advocating for. But when I investigated his case I didn't see the things she did and refused to write the story she wanted. I became a target for her. She emailed me constantly criticizing every article I wrote while extolling the virtues of other nearby media outlets. When her messages stopped being civil, I told her to stop reading FLORIDA TODAY and read the other papers she loved so much.

She quit emailing me but the attacks began again once she discovered Twitter. Yeah, sometimes you just can't win.

Freedom of the press and freedom of expression are things we take for granted here in this nation. The government doesn't lock us up when we write something they don't like and attacks on journalists are usually relegated to social media. But worldwide, freedom of the press was only established as a fundamental human right in 1948 in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

It's a shame that something as fundamental as a free press has to even be declared. Even more shameful are the countries that do imprison journalists and have them killed. 

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 57 journalists worldwide were killed since the start of 2020. They say the motive was confirmed in 37 of those killed.  Some of the more dangerous places to report the truth include Mexico, Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq and the Philippines among others. 

The names of those murdered usually are not familiar. Once in a while they are. Jamal Khashoggi, a journalist working for the Washington Post and a Saudi dissident was murdered and dismembered at the Saudi embassy in Turkey. Saudi Arabia held a trial, deemed a mockery by human rights groups, and convicted five officials they said were responsible. All five were later pardoned. 

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Then there's the pandemic. According to the Press Emblem Campaign, a Geneva-based media rights group, 47 American journalists died from COVID-19, while 181 have perished in Brazil, 140 in Peru and India is third with 107. Nearly half of the Indian journalists died within the last three weeks.

"This is an unprecedented slaughter and a great loss for the profession," said PEC Secretary-General Blaise Lempen. Journalists have died reporting about the deadliest event in our lifetimes. The Press Emblem Campaign states more than 1,200 journalists in 75 countries have died from the virus.

You may not always like what I write. That's OK, just as long as you understand there's no one to watch those in power without us.

Contact Torres at 321-242-3684 or at [email protected]. Don’t forget to follow him on Twitter @johnalbertorres or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/FTjohntorres.

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