People change careers all the time. There is a certain liberation to pursuing that which one truly loves doing, and a commendable courage to start anew.
But a report from Vice World News over the weekend details a different kind of career shift – a tragic one – as former journalists in the news organization Apple Daily in Hong Kong now eke out a different kind of living: one as a cab driver, another as a restaurant employee. Yet another works odd jobs while another publishes news on a web site for a fraction of what he used to earn.
Apple Daily is just one independent news outlet in Hong Kong that has been shut down by the Chinese government. Its assets were frozen and some of its editors were slapped with charges that could land them in jail. This is a stark contrast to how journalism was being practiced years ago, when the press freely published news and commentary critical of the mainland.
Some of those featured in the story said they no longer saw any point in being a journalist anymore.
Such resignation is a death knell for a profession which is a cornerstone of democracy and has served as a watchdog against abuses by government officials and corporations.
The purpose of journalism, say Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel in their book The Elements of Journalism, is to provide people with the information they need to be free and self-governing. But if information is suppressed, or if it is manufactured such that it no longer is information but propaganda, fake news or distorted truth, then it provides a shaky basis for the people on which to base their discourse and democratic decisions.
Then again, what is happening in Hong Kong is likely not limited to the former British colony. Elsewhere in the world, including here in our benighted land, attempts to frustrate the essence of the press are striking fear and dismay among many. Some valiantly keep up the fight, but when safety, economics or ethical principles become the issue, it becomes just so tempting to give up. For their part, aspiring journalists do a double take and explore other career options instead of staying on track.
What is happening is lamentable. In this day of state-driven distortion and unhampered flow of manufactured news and unfounded opinion, the world needs more — not fewer – journalists steeped in the rigors, and the virtue, of telling the truth.