Record numbers of journalists are being assaulted and murdered worldwide but I see no interest in this by any PR group although there would be no such thing as PR without journalists. Where is the sympathy of PR people? The Committee to Protect Journalists lists its contributors but none are PR organizations.

 CPJ, based in New York (http://www.cpj.org) found that at least 65 journalists were killed around the world in 2007 because of their work. This was the highest total in 13 years and compared with 56 killed in 2006. Last year, nearly half of the fatalities were in Iraq. The second deadliest country was Somalia, with seven deaths. Overall about 1,000 news media personnel worldwide have been killed trying to report the news over the past 10 years, or about two deaths each week, according to The International News Safety Institute (http://www.newssafety.com).

Why should this be of concern to PR professionals? Even in an emerging era of client-generated content, there would be no PR without journalists, no legitimate new or mainstream media with credibility. The PR industry needs to show greater interest in journalists as dedicated professional human beings and not just people who are vehicles for placement pitches.

At stake is the future of freedom and democracy. The media are an effective mechanism for keeping societal organizations accountable. Investigative work and day-to day reporting routinely uncover corruption, human rights violations, conflicts of interest and other obstacles to a healthy society or well-managed corporation.

Judea Pearl, writing in The Wall Street Journal last month on the sixth anniversary of the murder of his son reporter Daniel Pearl, said that the reason that the case is considered an icon of the modern times was because "he was a journalist, and journalists, more than any other professionals, represent the strength, beauty and vulnerability of an open society. When an unarmed journalist is killed, we are reminded of both the freedoms that we treasure in our society, and how vulnerable we all are to forces that threaten those freedoms."

Reprinted by Permission from ODwyerPR.com