Today is World Press Freedom Day. The Globe is honouring the work of journalists around the world, highlighting the challenges and critical importance of a free press.
But all we have is the power of the pen, and in some countries, the ink is running dry. That is what is chronicled, over and over, in this special weekend issue.
A long time ago, as a young reporter with The Belfast Telegraph, I covered the violence in Northern Ireland. Petrol bombs, paint tins and loose nails all rained down. Snooker balls make a terrible din when they hit bone, concrete and steel. Each sound, though, is different. Occasionally, I heard gunfire in the distance.
It was many things, but it was never fun, and I sometimes wondered what was the point. Was this really news? Why was I giving attention to a tiny minority of attention-seeking troublemakers? But I always returned to the same conclusion: It was a story, and it was my job to tell it. It could not be ignored. That will have been why, late last month, the young journalist Lyra McKee was covering a single-street riot in Derry City.
Ms. McKee will never again type a word or be allowed to bring wider meaning to the stories she so intelligently investigated.
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