Heroes

Yes, really

journalist
jeanbaptistparis@flickr.com (Creative commons — thanks)

The wonderful Private Eye has published its shortlist of journos who are in the running for its Paul Foot prize for investigative journalism this year. They are:

  • Gordon Blackstock (hundreds of orphans buried in unmarked graves from a home run by a Catholic order)
  • Carole Cadwalladr (Cambridge Analytica)
  • Amelia Gentleman (Windrush)
  • Madison Marriage (sexual harassment at a charity fundraiser)
  • Sean O Neill (Oxfam workers sexually abusing disaster victims in Haiti)
  • Buzzfeed (the work of Russian hitmen in the UK)

Our  world is a place where journalists are mocked as creators of ‘fake news’ by people who are unworthy of their political office.

In many countries, even countries that like to think of themselves as civilized, journalists are treated as traitors or enemies. Every year journalists are killed.

It’s true that the UK press scene embraces the worst of human conduct as well as the best.  But it’s worth celebrating these people. They are unearthing injustice, annoying those in power, refusing to shut up.

More power to them.

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