| Addressing the annual Poliak Lecture, hosted by the
Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University in New York Sambrook
said, "Journalists are now at risk to a greater extent than they
have ever been before. Where once their neutrality was widely recognised
and respected, today they are targeted and sought out [by aggressors].
They are seen as high-profile representatives of their countries or
cultures.
"Increased partisanship in our media may have played a part in that; there
may be other factors too. But with 85 journalists or support staff
killed in the last year, we, as an industry, cannot carry on and
do nothing. It is now one of the biggest inhibitions on freedom
of reporting."
In his wide-ranging speech, Sambrook also focussed on the issue
of objectivity in journalism. He called on broadcasters and publications
to avoid patriotic reporting and reminded them of their "responsibility"
to "ask the difficult questions".
"Before Iraq, it seemed to me that some US news broadcasters
wrapped themselves in the flag and, as a consequence, did not perform
the role the public expects of them. I understand the problem. The
mindset of the country was that it was at war. Our natural instinct
is to support our country.
"But the responsibility of the news media is to ask the difficult
questions, to press, to verify. And we now know that all of us failed
to ask the right questions about WMD in advance of the war. That
isn't to say the war was wrong. Each person can make up his / her
own mind up about that. But to do so they need accurate information,
evidence that has been tested."
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