Last Saturday night Jason Rezaian, the former Iran bureau chief for the Washington Post, appeared at a correspondents’ dinner and joked that the audience there sure beat solitary confinement. It was a light-hearted moment underscoring a serious, growing issue. In July of 2014 Rezaian was arrested in Tehran and imprisoned until January of this year. His plight became a symbol of the many risks journalists face around the world.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 72 reporters were killed for doing their jobs. Nearly 200 are unjustly jailed. Today, we look at the dangers of journalism and the reality of censorship.
Clarification from Dana Priest on May 4, 2016: “The local media did cover the water problems from the start. Some critics have made the case that they could have been more aggressive, but I think that’s a different point than the too-stark one I made yesterday. It was really the national media (and statewide Michigan media) who were late to the story, which is what I probably conflated in my mind, having read some of that criticism.” More information.