22 february 2012, brave, or stupid

Brave, though my other half doesn't agree. The deaths of a noted journalist and photographer in syria, join a long roll call of journalists "killed in action". Unlike most of the victims though, marie and remi chose to be there, running the risk for the sake of journalism, activism or glory. The same could be said though, to varying degrees of soldiers, the red cross and even many civilians who stay put in war zones through a combination of ignorance, stubbornness, conviction or fear of alternative places to go. Journalists though are surely a class apart. Marie had already lost an eye from being in a part of sri lanka journalists were banned from, where she reported on an unfolding tragedy, bearing witness to the world. Years before in east timor she did more than that, refusing to join other journalists leaving an indonesian-surrounded compound, her presence and the pictures she beamed to the world being widely credited with saving the lives of 1, 500 people. Others had left homs too over the last days, after being warned that the makeshift press centre, an obvious target, was about to be destroyed. She stayed, perhaps hoping again its output would afford the people around it some safety. This time though, it was not to be and she joins the thousands of syrians killed over the last months. She will get far more attention than any of them, through her bravery or stupidity, and it can only be hoped that the renewed spotlight it will bring on the mass killing taking place speeds its end.