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Six months have passed since U.S. citizen Brad Will was shot to death in Oaxaca on October 27, 2006. Recently, Mr. Will’s parents visited Oaxaca looking for information on their son’s murder, but left with more questions than answers. Mexican investigations into Will’s death do not seem to have made any progress, and there does not appear to be a concerted effort to resolve the case. This lack of progress is worrisome. Not only was a young man senselessly killed, but a concerned voice trying to tell an important story was effectively silenced.
Brad Will came to Oaxaca City to report on the violence that erupted there last year so that other people around the world could be informed. Alarm about his murder is not limited to Mr. Will’s family and the American people. This incident also has been condemned by the Committee to Protect Journalists and the Inter-American Press Association, both of which have demanded a full investigation. And Brad Will is not alone.
Referring to the murder of a journalist in Acapulco three weeks ago, President Calderon recently denounced violence against journalists and observed that it is fundamentally inconsistent with democracy. “The murder of journalists,” he said, “leaves a profound and painful emptiness in society as a whole.”
This emptiness affects us all deeply. The murder of anyone is an affront to civil society. But the murder of a journalist puts at risk all of our most cherished freedoms. A free citizen, by definition, must be a well-informed citizen. If journalists fear reprisal for reporting the truth, and thus censor what they write or avoid the dangers they so frequently and nobly face, our “right to know” as a people suffers. An unenlightened citizenry devoid of truthful information cannot demand to be better governed.
As Thomas Jefferson, one of the founders of modern democracy wrote over two centuries ago: “To preserve the freedom of the human mind ... and freedom of the press, every spirit should be ready to devote itself ... ; for as long as we may think as we will and speak as we think, the condition of man will proceed in improvement.”
As we approach World Press Freedom Day on May 3-- this year dedicated to the theme of journalist safety-- all of us, media as well as citizens of democracies, need to speak out against the impunity of violence against journalists. We also must insist that the case of Brad Will and those of all slain journalists be given the full investigation they deserve and that the perpetrators of these crimes against us all be brought to justice.
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