The High Cost of Journalism and Photo Journalism
We often say “thank you for your service” to those who have served in our military as veterans or those on active duty. Very important also are those who go into harm’s way to cover and photograph the scenes that we would never see. These can be heart-breaking scenes of the dead, wounded or dying…especially when there are children involved.
Who are these people who give so much of their time and lives to documenting vivid accounts of life, death or critical situations? They are journalists and photo journalists. We owe them a great deal of gratitude. They keep us informed and in doing so, often pay a great price.
Take a long, hard look at these faces. 804 journalists have been murdered and killed worldwide since 1992. (JPC..Committee to Protect Journalists ) This, of course, does not include the women journalists who have been raped or men brutalized while covering world events. Neither does it include those who are still in captivity in various countries. They should not be forgotten and every effort should be made to have them released.
Pictures of some of the Journalists who have died
20 Deadliest Countries as of 2014 (according to CPJ) If you click on any of the blue words, you can see a list of each person, by name, who died and how.
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Chris Hondros (Getty Image)
Today, I would like to feature only one such photo journalist. Chris Hondros, who was killed by a rocket propelled grenade in 2011, while in Libya on an assignment.
Chris’ parents were immigrants from Greece and Germany. They first came to New York and then moved Chris to North Carolina when he was a child. He earned a degree in English Literature from N.C State University and went on for his Masters from the School of Visual Communications in Ohio. Because of his great interest in world events and world conflicts, he photographed throughout the world in Iraq, Liberia, Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, Iraq and many more places.
Throughout his career, Chris received many awards for his work and in 2004 he was a Nominated Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Spot News Photography for his work in Liberia. He after was a guest speaker and writer about his experiences. Journalism will miss this man of many talents and his bravery to reach out to the world…that we may know truth through his documentation.
Pictures photographed by Chris Hondros (All Getty Images) in this slide presentation:
LINK: See Chris’ website and more of his photography from around the world
