Protecting watchdogs

As our colleagues celebrated the country's 10th Journalists Day yesterday, many shared the feeling that journalism as a profession is no longer what it was. For many, being a journalist is now a risky business.

Indeed. We have heard plenty about the troubles the men and women in our profession have run into. There have been a number of cases where investigative journalists were physically assaulted, illegally held in custody, threatened, or falsely incriminated. And truth-seeking reporters have been thrown those two famous rhetorical questions: "On whose side are you standing, the Party's or the masses'", and "Are you a Party member?"

Being a journalist may be tricky. Many are still accustomed to seeing the mass media as the authorities' mouthpiece. To them, journalists finding fault with the authorities is simply unacceptable. On the other hand, the central authorities have been calling on the media to be more aggressive and play the watchdog role.