Shooting the messengers

Shooting the messengers

While journalists are fully aware of the risks of covering a
conflict or a war, the attack on a group of journalists in the
East Timor capital of Dili on Thursday was way out of line. One
TV clip showed a thug attacking a TV cameraman who was protecting
a female reporter. Not shown on TV but graphically described by
Kompas daily was the shooting of its reporter, who would have
died had he not worn a bulletproof vest. Shot in the leg, he was
forced to flee by limping away from his assailants. He had to be
hospitalized.

Journalists have found themselves caught in the clashes
between proindependence and pro-Indonesia camps on several
occasions in recent months. Most of the incidents went
unreported, or were given passing mention. The journalists, and
the media they represent, rightly treat such incidents -- as long
as they are not life-threatening -- as hazards that are part and
parcel of their profession. As messengers, their real job is to
focus their reports on what is happening in East Timor, and not
draw public attention to themselves.

But it is altogether a different story if the attacks are
intentional or premeditated, which is what occurred on Dili's
streets on Thursday. The assailants were bent on harming the
journalists and, in the case of the Kompas reporter, of taking
his life. The journalists were the targets. They were not caught
in the line of fire, which, incidentally, remains the Indonesian
government's official line for the untimely deaths of five
Australian-based journalists in East Timor in 1975.

When people start assailing journalists, it is an attack not
only on the particular individuals, but the entire profession,
and what it represents: the quest for truth. Any attack,
intimidation or harassment against journalists undermines their
ability to report the truth, which in turn obstructs the public's
right to information.

With the historic ballot in East Timor set for Monday, it is
clear that some people are becoming uneasy about the increasing
attention devoted to the territory by the international media.
They do not like to see the truth in East Timor, concealed for
much of the last 24 years under Indonesian rule, suddenly bared
for the whole world to see. These are the same people who, in
their desperation to smother the truth, roundly accuse the media
of bias. Granted, some media slanted their reports in favor of
the underdogs in the conflict, but their ability to do so is
inevitably limited by the understanding of a discerning and
critical audience.

The job of journalists is to portray the truth to the utmost
of their ability. This is limited by the extent of the access
they are given to obtain that information. The more access they
have, the closer they get to the truth. Both sides in the
conflict should therefore have an equal stake in giving
journalists as much access as possible, so that they can get as
close to the truth as possible.

The attack and intimidation on Thursday may have served the
assailants' purpose to conceal the truth for a short time. But in
the long run, the truth will out, as the saying goes, and such
practices will be proven counterproductive. One only need look at
the way the international media treats the Indonesian government
today. For much of the past two decades, the government barred
access for journalists to East Timor and, at times, lied to the
world about the conditions there. Its credibility is now
continually called into question, even when its intentions are
genuine. Several thousand kilometers to the west, the military
managed to suppress information about the atrocities it committed
for nine long years in Aceh. Once the ugly truth emerged last
year, the Acehnese lost all trust in the military and police.

Journalists covering the East Timor conflict know full well
the risks that their job entails. Most come prepared, with
bulletproof vests, or even insurance. They, or their media, are
not asking for special protection from the government or the
police. But they need some kind of recognition, from all parties
involved in East Timor, of their work and of their duty to the
public at large in providing as accurate a picture as possible of
the conflict. All they ask is that they be allowed to do their
job, without being intimidated, attacked and wounded.