Thursday, a disgruntled reader shot and killed five newspaper employees — four of them journalists — at the Maryland Capital Gazette newspaper. It was the largest mass shootings with journalist fatalities in the United States.
Sooner or later, it was going to happen, it was just a matter of when. Mad men and troubled people have attacked all segments of society — school children, church congregations, shoppers at shopping malls, in hospitals, movie theaters, concerts, shoppers on crowded streets, and now, journalists.
In 2015, two journalists, Adam Ward and Alison Parker, were covering the 50th anniversary of Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia when they were both shot and killed by a former employee.
But, this time the shooting happened at a newspaper office. The shooter allegedly entered the Capital-Gazette newsroom with a shotgun, shooting through a glass door at the newspaper’s headquarters and opening fire on employees. Five were confirmed killed and several more were wounded in the shooting.
The shooter had filed a defamation claim in 2012 against the paper, but the case was dismissed. He came to shoot people and to cause harm. When police arrived, they found the shooter hiding under a desk.
Every day, newspaper people are attacked verbally. Even President Trump is guilty. He has called journalists “sickos” and “enemies of the people.”
There is a reason that we have newspapers and the press, and there is a reason that free speech was protected in our Constitution’s First Amendment. As Thomas Jefferson wrote, “The most effectual hitherto found, is the freedom of the press. It is, therefore, the first shut up by those who fear the investigation of their actions.”
Free speech is a right that we all must defend. Journalists put themselves in harm’s way every day to report about government corruption, war and human suffering. In local communities, they let you know what is happening with your local government, they uncover scandals, yet, they report a lot of good things about people living in your community, the achievements of school children.
In this age of digital news, the connection between reader and written word is measured very precisely, and oftentimes, very coldly. In the past we trusted readers to turn the page and sample a menu of offerings, from breaking news and softer features to sports, horoscopes, and weather. Now, we fear their wrath, or more dangerous, their indifference.
The vast majority of journalists are people serving their own communities, working for little glamour and less money. They stay in their profession because they enjoy the rush of a good story, because of the interaction with people and the community it provides. They do it for you.
In every business, it’s change or die. Today, survival trumps nostalgia, as it should. It’s good when you get an e-mail and sometimes even an old-fashioned letter, on paper. At times they praise our work and other times they vehemently disagree with it. But, both are all part of a community called lovers of news and the printed word — and they are willing to pay for it.
The news is important in our daily lives, whether we cover it, make it, or simply read it. But attacks on journalists, like attacks on doctors or judges, are not just attacks on individuals and their families: they aim to tear the connective tissue of society. Not all journalists are singled out for killing, of course. Often it is enough to be doing the unglamorous work of reporting what happens in plain sight, to ensure that no one turns away from what should be in front of their noses. There are times and places when the simple truth is in itself a provocation to thugs and criminals.
Every attack on the press is an attack on all of our freedom. A free press is a vital and integral part of any free society. Even in our country, we have seen steps taken to limit and outright prevent the media from doing its job. However, journalists deserve our respect just as any other American worker. And, it must start at the top.
Furthermore, shootings are an attack on our freedom, whether it be an attack on a school, at a shopping mall, pedestrians on a busy street, or journalists at work. These attacks challenge our freedom at its core. They are unacceptable, and they must be stopped.
Society has a role to play in finding a solution to end the mass shootings. It begins with respect for each other, the work they do, and “loving our neighbor.”