2001 Poynter Ethics Fellow
Writer, Commentator, Educator, Washington, D.C.
The abduction of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in Pakistan helped me understand how cops feel when one of their own goes down. Yet, unlike the police, journalists are essentially powerless to find his Karachi kidnappers, and the Journal certainly has no power to meet their demands.
Danny and I worked together at the Journal’s Washington’s bureau. He’s a laid-back, mellow sort, who would play the fiddle at informal office functions and small clubs. When the weather was nice, he enjoyed volleyball games in the park. On Friday mornings, he joined a small group of us in basketball at the downtown YMCA. Though outwardly he doesn’t have the appearance of the hard-driving reporter, he had a way of coming up with stories others would overlook.
It’s very difficult to see this kind, easy-to-talk-to person pictured in chains with a pistol pointed at his head. It’s also difficult to figure out the group that snatched him. First they accused him of being a CIA agent. Then they claimed he was an agent for Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency.
Both claims, of course, are wrong.
The outrageous threat to kill Danny does nothing to correct whatever sins the United States might have caused. His murder would disgrace whatever cause his kidnappers advocate.
Unfortunately, deaths of journalists on duty are not uncommon. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), based in New York, 37 “individuals were killed in 2001 because of their work as journalists. They either died in the line of duty or were deliberately targeted for assassination because of their reporting or their affiliation with a news organization.” That’s a 54 percent increase over the 24 journalists killed in 2000.
CPJ released an appeal by journalists, including many from Islamic or Arabic backgrounds, to Danny’s captors. It affirmed “the rights of journalists everywhere — be they Western, Arab, Muslim, or any other nationality and religion — to perform their vital tasks without being subject to accusations and threats.”
Some stories require reporters to place themselves in dangerous situations. Danny’s kidnappers have threatened other American journalists in Pakistan. Should they leave, because it clearly is a very dangerous place? Should they stay, because there certainly is plenty of news to report and to show solidarity with Danny?
It’s a hard decision for editors. Reporters on the scene generally want to stay where the action is.
This kidnapping was a vile criminal act that can bring no good to anyone. Releasing Danny could help the abductors more than holding him. Paul Steiger, the Journal’s managing editor, was correct when he wrote in an open letter to the captors: “A freed Danny can explain your cause, and your beliefs, to the world. His record as a journalist is proof that he can do this honestly and effectively.”
Free Danny Pearl.
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This commentary first appeared in The Washington Post.
