Journalists all over the world make great efforts and sacrifices and take big risks in search of the truth. They uphold principles and values, detect corruption and monitor excesses. And they thereby serve their countries and humanity as a whole, proving the importance of their profession to us all.
We should never forget the journalists who were killed in wars or natural disasters in order to give us reports as we sit comfortably in our homes.
How can we forget the photojournalist who took the picture of Mohamed al-Dura, risking his life in the face of Israeli aggression, or the journalist who reported about what happened in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, revealing the US's false allegations on democracy and human rights?
How can we forget he who revealed the Watergate scandal that overthrew the president of the most powerful country in the world, or those who revealed other scandals that have toppled governments and exposed dubious deals, paving the way for the punishment of the corrupt and the negligent?
Two weeks ago, a photojournalist had taken a picture of Ilan, a dead Syrian child on the beach of a Turkish town. The child had drowned with his mother and his brother while trying to illegally migrate to Europe.
The picture, which touched the hearts of all who saw it, had a magical effect on global policies toward the Syrian crisis and the refugee problem it caused.
The picture triggered demonstrations in many European capitals and moved governments to take action and review policies of asylum. It even created pressure to find new solutions to the deepening Syrian crisis.
These are examples of the noble role that skilled and professional journalists play.
Yet there are others who in a parallel attempt, make of the press a means to perpetuate corruption.
Two weeks ago, French authorities arrested two French journalists and accused them of trying to blackmail Moroccan King Mohammed VI. The police had recorded a conversation they had with an official from the Royal Palace of Morocco, requesting 3 million euros in exchange for them not to publish a book that exposes the king.
It seems the journalists will be indicted because they did not deny the charge.
What they did was not worse than what the Hungarian camerawoman Petra Laszlo of N1TV did last week when she filmed the police arresting Syrian refugees. She noticed that a man and his son managed to flee from the police. So she tripped the man, who fell over with his son, for the police to catch them both. She also tripped another girl who fled the police, preventing her from crossing Hungary into another country where she might have had a better chance for asylum.
These are examples of those who abuse their profession to perpetuate corruption.
We also have in Egypt journalists who practice extortion day after day, thinking they are defending national interests.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
