Journalism was under attack once again as gunman killed five in Annapolis, USA yesterday. The attack was on the staff of the newspaper Capital Gazette and Jarrod Warren Ramos is the main suspect in the crime.
The attack was set to have been planned by the suspect after he had filed a defamation suit against the newspaper and lost the case. The victims include Rob Hiaasen, Gerald Fischman, Wendi Winters, and John McNamara who were editors, and Rebecca Smith who was an ad sales assistant for the newspaper.
Attacks against journalists have been on a rise world-over. No one can forget the horrendous attacks on the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in 2015, which killed twelve people. In India, the assassination of popular journalist Gauri Lankesh shocked us all. These attacks are meant to curb the efforts of good journalists who go out of their way to expose the wrongs in society.
The incident occurred as the suspect went into the building with a shotgun and smoke grenades, and took the life of four people. One victim succumbed to injuries while being transported to the hospital.
President Trump also tweeted that his prayers go out to the victims of the attack. However, the gun laws in the US are still to blame and Congress seems to be going nowhere with that. The gunman was found hiding in under a desk by the police when he was arrested.
Capital Gazette did not let the shootings get to them as they even published a Friday edition of the newspaper. Their perseverance should be applauded. However, the world needs to be able to protect their journalists as many are afraid to push themselves to get the right stories due to such unforeseeable disasters. The journalists abide by the law and deserve something from it.
All of us complain that the media stagnates on issues that do not matter. But, when someone goes out of their way, they get shot or tortured. As attacks go by we can only hope lawmakers across the world have something in mind to make journalism great again.
