Excerpt
SUMMARY: Life today is defined by the accessibility and consumption of constant information. Yet journalists, the people who long had a monopoly on that information, are more vulnerable than ever. Joel Simon, executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, examines the causes behind the growing dangers in his new book, "The New Censorship." He joins Jeffrey Brown for a conversation.
JEFFREY BROWN (NewsHour): On the one hand, information is everywhere and more people around the world have access to it. On the other, for journalists, those who have traditionally gathered and disseminated so much of that information, the times are more dangerous than ever.
JOEL SIMON, Committee to Protect Journalists: Absolutely. That’s the paradox. We live in an age defined by information. And yet the people who bring us this information are dying, being imprisoned, being killed in record numbers. If you look at the data, it is shocking, but press freedom, freedom of expression is actually in decline around the world.
JEFFREY BROWN: In his role as executive director of the advocacy group the Committee to Protect Journalists, Joel Simon watches all of this unfold on a daily basis.
In a new book, “The New Censorship,” he’s looked at case studies and some of the causes behind growing dangers for journalists.
We talked yesterday at the Newseum in Washington, D.C.
JOEL SIMON: One of the fundamental things that has happened is, the relationship between journalists and the people they cover, the power relationship, has changed.
Journalists were — once had a sort of information monopoly. If you wanted to talk to the public, the global public, you needed to go through the media. That is no longer the case. So the value of individual journalists, whether they’re professional journalists or citizen journalists, is diminished. And they are more vulnerable as a result.
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