The Pacific Index Editorial staff would like to address readers as a body of proud journalists. We want to acknowledge the very difficult year journalism faced in 2018 and all those who were lost while serving their audiences and attempting to provide them with the truth.
Just this last month Time magazine released their person of the year, naming four journalists and a newspaper as their feature story and cover. The newspaper is that of the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland who tragically lost four journalists and a sales associate to a gunman in June. The individual journalists also included late Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi; Philippine journalist Maria Ressa, who has been arrested; and Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, who have been detained in Myanmar for almost a year.
We do not think it should be taken lightly that this is the first year Time’s person, or rather people of the year, includes individuals who are no longer with us.
As journalism students and active newspaper contributors, these are individuals we look up to. We take pride in knowing our job is to not only seek out, but share the truth with our audience. We recognize this job as not only something we aspire to make money doing, but as a duty we have taken upon ourselves. A sentiment we are sure all journalists, especially those honored by Times, would agree with.
We would like to share our condolences to those who lost any one of the 52 journalists killed this year while trying to perform their duties. And in the same breath, we would like to denounce the idea that the media is the enemy of the people. True journalism does not aim to be nice, nor it does not aim to be evil, it simply aims to educate its audience with honesty.
In 2019 the Pacific Index will continue to do this exactly, and we do this in honor of those who had this opportunity taken from them in 2018.
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