I love being a reporter. I know that is an odd way to start a column, but hold on for a second. As a reporter, I get to practice a right I believe is one of the most important of all — the right to information.
That is why I was so disgusted by the acts that took place in Egypt this week. If you are not aware, the Egyptian government arrested three reporters from Al Jazeera, a popular television news station in the country. The reporters were charged with “aiding the Muslim Brotherhood and reporting false news,” according to Aljazeera.com. Two of the reporters now face seven to 10 years in jail for these “crimes.”
As a fellow reporter my job is to gather information. I learn peoples’ stories and try to see the whole picture. I seek to tell the story, regardless of what that story may be. If it is controversial, so be it. Wether the story is positive, negative or somewhere in between, I tell the truth.
Access to free information is vital to human life. Knowing about the world we live in is the best way to move forward in society. And the only way to move forward is to be conscious of the past and present.
According to CNN.com, the prosecution in these cases has yet to bring up any substantiative evidence for these allegations. Some of the evidence for their incarceration that has been brought up includes “a BBC podcast, a news report made while none of the accused were in Egypt, a pop video by the Australian singer Gotye, and several recordings on non-Egyptian issues,” according to Aljazeera.com
A pop video by Gotye. These reporters are facing up to ten years in jail, and the prosecution used the “Somebody That I Used To Know” music video as evidence of false reporting and aiding a terrorist organization. Apparently the video was played and no explanation was given as to why this was pertinent. It is unbelievable.
It frightens me to imagine a world where information cannot flow. Reporters in Egypt should be able to tell the citizens what is happening, regardless of its potential impact on the regime. To deny citizens the right to free press, and in turn, free speech, the state is denying them a human right.
If the state of Egypt wants to create yet another citizen uprising, they are headed in the right direction.
Egypt needs to understand that information will spread, whether they want it to or not. In this day and age, most people have access to a uninhibited stream of information known as the Internet. The Egyptian government can arrest all of the reporters in Egypt, but reporters across the world will continue to report and Egyptian citizens will find a way to read it.
As students, we need to protect and promote free information. We are given the opportunity each day to question everything while we are at MSU.
We are able to form opinions without the fear of possible imprisonment.
In America we have a pretty decent track record regarding free speech, seeing as it is the First and most important Amendment. But we cannot take that for granted or assume it will always be there. In the past, there have been attempts to deny free speech with the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA. We as a nation did a good job protesting the proposed censorship and SOPA did not pass, but we should still be on the alert for similar situations both at home and internationally, like the Al Jazeera arrests.
We, in America, are the representatives, an example of freedom. We cannot sit back and watch a developing nation like Egypt deny their citizens an integral right.
As we move on to be the leaders of our world, we should make free information a priority. Because knowledge is the key to the future.
Derek Gartee is a State News reporter. Reach him at dgartee@statenews.com.
