Neither martyrs, nor heroes” “

When a city burns there are some who stand to watch, and others who fight the flames. Recurring to this image, dedicated to them by a “war correspondent”, we may say that the seven European journalists killed in Afghanistan since the beginning of the war against terrorism (the Australian worked for a British paper) took up the witness left by the firemen of New York at the foot of the Twin Towers in the sacrifice of 11 September. They left it, in turn, at the gates of Kabul. The courage to go beyond the limits of safety to fulfil their own mission was developed in them in all the drudgery of their work, in the consciousness of a personal and professional responsibility put to the test in the darkest and most difficult days. The journalists who lost their lives in Afghanistan, just as the first confused cries of victory were beginning to be heard, had no need for many words to explain the reasons for their departure, or the risks they took. Nor are many words needed by all the others who, in that martyred country and in so many corners of the world, are dedicated to making a contribution to truth, justice and peace by their service. When a person follows the profession of journalist with dignity, i.e. with intellectual honesty and with a competence that is not merely technical, he is faced by having to make difficult, and sometimes unpopular, decisions, far from the demands of spectacle, profit and self-promotion. To recount the reality of a war, journalists risk their own lives without feeling themselves to be martyrs or even heroes. What prevails in them is a humility that recalls their sense of duty, and that is peculiar to those who are the first to disclaim any pretension of being infallible. Vanguards of Europe, disarmed and largely unprotected, their sacrifice tells us that the old continent does not consist just of insatiable consumers or the habitués of department stores, discos, football stadiums and fashionable meeting places, but is also inhabited by men and women who have a history, a culture, a faith. Seven journalists, by their sacrifice, tell us that information is a good that needs to be defended and promoted at all costs by everyone, because without it freedom, democracy and justice are more fragile, more exposed to violence and madness. They have thus changed the direction and quality of information that the lords of terrorism and those of the war had begun to use – in part successfully – as the most powerful weapon of all. But these victims are also an admonishment to a Europe that ever since the 11 September has politically wavered in its responses to the international crisis. And lastly they tell us, by their sacrifice, that the profession of journalist, like others, has a need to find in civil society a support that may also be critical but not a summary judgement due to some of its lapses. They have testified to the fact that many wear out their shoes tramping the streets of the world to report on life, denounce injustice and violence, unmask the corrupt and the corrupters. Their exertions, their steadfastness, their dedication and their sacrifice have deep roots in a European culture open to the world. Neither martyrs, nor heroes. Simply citizens and professionals who have performed a great service to truth and made greater the Europe of peace and hope.