A lift of the editor's bottle in memory of a fallen brother and sister

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Robert Capa said "If your photographs aren't good enough, you're not close enough." How good was he? Aside from being killed by a land mine, check this picture. http://notcloseenough.blogspot.com/2009/03/falling-soldier-robert-capa.html (That's a Mosin-Nagant in his hands BTW.)

Mawk Arnold told me "Benjamin, mortars don't care if you are a journalist."

With that in mind, I bring you this news: Journalists Marie Colvin and Remi Ochlik were killed in a bombing in Syria.

Arg. Pardon me while I lift the editor's bottle in their memory. My sister, my brother, you will be missed.

Complain about journalists all you wish, but the fact remains, we do put our lives on the line to bring you news. You may attempt to call BS on that one, so I point you to Marie and Remi above.

I also point you to the Committee to Protect Journalists which tracks attacks on journalists around the globe.

The fact is journalism is a dangerous business. No, not as dangerous as some careers, but dangerous. I've received death threats, violence threats and was mildly attacked once over a HUMOR COLUMN of all things. I cannot count the number of times people have threatened to sue me. None have followed through yet.

I have never been a war correspondent, although I dearly wanted to the first time we went to war with Iraq. Issues at home kept me at home. These days I rarely want to be on the front lines. Such reporting is for younger folks, literally battle-hardened reporters and those whose homes and countries are fighting.

It was sometime after the Vietnam war when journalists lost their battle immunity. It really ramped up in the 80s. By that I mean before 'Nam journalists were not taken prisoner, not intentionally attacked (mortars being indiscriminate as Mawk said) and generally had the freedom to talk to all sides.

Something changed. Suddenly, journalists became targets. One side in the fight objected to the reports about the other side. The journalist filing those stories was hunted down.

Yes, Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and other social media has dramatically changed the way war is covered. Citizen journalism has also dramatically changed the way news is gathered and disseminated in non war zones. In an ironic twist, these people are discovering that journalism actually is dangerous as they face reprisals.

As much as these people contribute, we still need journalists with an objective eye to bring us news. We always will.

Unfortunately that means journalists will continue to die as they try to bring you the truth. That means the editor's bottle will have to be lifted again.

The cost of truth is too often paid with human lives.