The killing, torturing and imprisoning of journalists contribute to the inevitable erosion of freedom of speech and expression for all of us. The threat journalists themselves face when their rights to inform and be informed are controlled puts them in mortal danger. This is a violation to the very quick of their human rights; this is what most concerns us.

Since 1989 the James Joyce Ramble added to its mission the effort to make people aware of human rights. Because of our namesake, and because writers and free thinkers are frequently targeted by authoritarian regimes that are intolerant of criticism and democratic ideals, we have petitioned on behalf of such writers as Vaclav Havel, Xu Wenli and Aung San Suu Kyi.

We join Reporters san Frontiers and all human rights organizations in petitioning on behalf of the rights of journalists everywhere who practice this most essential tool of a free society. To inform and to be allowed to seek information is at the very core of our need to know what our government is doing on our behalf. Journalists in America represent what many consider the fourth branch of government. In this regard, passionate, articulate and thoughtful journalists are emissaries representing the public’s right to know and the public good itself.