Wolf Blitzer Speaks Out on World Press Freedom Day: Journalists Are Not Your ‘Enemy,’ We’re Just Like You

Yesterday was World Press Freedom Day, and CNN’s Wolf Blitzer marked the occasion by pushing back against the idea that the media is “the enemy.”

Blitzer said that right now the ideals of journalist are “under assault” all over the world and journalists globally are “under siege.”

He brought up the imprisonment of Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo in Myanmar, the charges against Maria Ressa in the Philippines, and the detention of Austin Tice––still believed to be alive––in Syria.

In the US, Blitzer said, “reporters who show up to do their jobs are often insulted, harassed, sometimes––as was the case of our friends at the Capital Gazette in Maryland––they’re killed. And they’re called the enemy of the people by the President of the United States.”

He brought up comments from one Dallas anchor who said journalists aren’t the enemy of the people, they are the people:

“Reporters around the world, they risk their lives to document war and risk their freedom to confront despots. They, we, are just like you. We are sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers doing our duty to shine light where there’s darkness, always hoping to make it home to our families at the end of the day just like you.”

He asked viewers to give a thought to journalists at home and abroad, adding, “They are not your enemy. They are working for you because they are you.”

You can watch above, via CNN.

[image via screengrab]

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