From the Director

By JD Miller

“News is anything anybody wants to suppress; everything else is public relations.”

It is really hard to get a story right. The quote above is illustrative. It and similar variations are attributed to several individuals, including publisher William Randolph Hearst, to the point where nobody seems to know who said it first. This was probably not intentionally misleading, but as time passes, people lose track of what happened and who said what. Actually keeping a record and holding people to account is extraordinarily difficult. 

That is why I am so proud of the members we represent. Recently, our reporters were called to report on a difficult event when protests turned violent in Ferguson, Missouri. Thanks to the hard work of our members, much has been said about the issues that led to the protests and, thanks to the great reporting that is still continuing, we are beginning to have a better understanding of what happened and why. In a democracy, the people need to understand what is happening and that is why the reactions against the press in Ferguson were so troubling. 

Of all of the social and political issues that arose during the protests there, this element seems to have been lost in the discussion. Simply stated, our reporters were regularly targeted during this event while they were doing their jobs. There were incidents of assaults and intentional damage towards our members and other journalists. The police tried to control the press to a remarkable degree and, in many instances, reporters were prevented from telling the story the way they wanted to. Of course, as bad as the situation was locally, international journalists have also been targeted recently — and some have paid with their lives. Reporters have a critical job to perform in a democracy and they should be inviolate while they are doing their jobs and bringing us the story. While this goal may seem lofty, it should still be the goal. We need to keep talking about this issue, we need to keep pressing for more protections for our journalists and we need to keep preparing our members so that they can come home safely when their jobs are done. To that end, SAG-AFTRA continues to advocate for our members. I encourage everyone to visit our Safety 4 Media campaign and to get involved to protect journalists. Click here.

This item was originally featured in the October 2014 local newsletter.