Journalist Killed in Mexican Crossfire October 29, 2006
October has been a bad month for journalists. First, Anna Politskovskaya was assasinated on October 7th, presumably because someone didn’t want her forthcoming article about official complicity in torture to appear. She had already written enough to anger both sides. Now comes the news that independent videographer Roland Bradley Will was shot to death yesterday in crossfire between Mexican police and protesters in Oaxaca . The protesters have been active for several weeks in their calls for the resignation of the governor, and have nearly succeeded in shutting down the Mexican state, although one would never know that by reading mainstream American news. Mr. Willi was there to document officially sanctioned and instigated human rights abuses.It is not known whether a protester or a police bullet killed Mr. Will, and rest assured that if a police bullet did, we are unlikely to find out.
According to Reporters Without Borders, the world is entering an era when journalistic immunity, threatened and thin as it has always been, is ever more imperiled. An attack on journalists is an attack on readers, on public discourse, and ultimately on every aspect of public life. Let us hope that the media coverage of Mr. Willi’s death will be tireless and relentless. The truth may never out ( it would take nothing less than adjudication by a third party, such as Reporters Without Borders, to establish a credible version of events), but at least we as citizens of the world can make life uncomfortable for those who might want to hide the truth. Go to these archives about Bradley Will to get started.
