Stop killing and arresting journalists

We all know that politicians would rather we didn't know what is, and isn't, going on in a country. And it doesn't necessarily mean what political hew the country has.

The New York Times editorialises in "Foreign Journalists Under Fire" on the killing and arrest of journalists:

"A kangaroo court in Egypt recently sentenced three journalists from the Al Jazeera English network to three years in prison for committing journalism.

On Tuesday, in Azerbaijan, an award-winning investigative journalist was not allowed to finish her closing statement before a judge sentenced her to more than seven years in prison.

Authorities in Turkey, meanwhile, took three journalists from VICE news, a media company, into custody last weekend, claiming, spuriously, that the journalists were aiding the Islamic State. Later in the week, police officers raided the office of another company that owns news outlets.

These efforts by governments to silence journalists are having a profoundly corrosive effect on journalism at a time when strong news gathering is sorely needed."

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