The Power Of One

By TAD BARTIMUS

Great journalists searching for truth find the edge, walk up to it, and step over. That's what Danny Pearl was doing when he was kidnapped and murdered in Pakistan. That's what 37 other journalists around the world were doing when they were killed last year.

By all accounts, Pearl was not a sensationalist or a war groupie. He was not rich or famous, not a million-dollar TV talking head posing as a newsman. He was the real goods, with bona fides that included years of paying his dues at smaller newspapers before moving to the Wall Street Journal 12 years ago. 

Like so many reporters who die taking professional risks, Pearl made it his business to shine a light into dark, dangerous corners where poverty, fanaticism, ignorance, envy and violence foment terror. His only reason for going to a Karachi restaurant to meet an unknown source, who then kidnapped him, was to ferret out information to share with the world. He was killed because he was a truth-seeker, an American, and probably because he also was a Jew.

Pearl's work embodied journalistic values many Americans believe do not exist. 

"The media sensationalizes to make money," goes one old saw.

"You can't believe anything in the papers or on TV news," goes another.

Armchair critics who form their opinions by listening exclusively to TV and radio talk shows, who read only their hometown paper, and who believe all journalists are part of a liberal conspiracy do not take the time to become acquainted with the work of journalists like Danny Pearl. Trying to persuade these press bashers to inform themselves through a variety of respected media outlets is like trying to teach a pig to sing; it frustrates the persuader and irritates the pig.

Because most mass media consists of entertainment, gossip, innuendo and frivolity, there is less real journalism readily available. And it is true that some very important stories sometimes are not as lively or human as they should be. Stories weighted down with a plethora of facts and statistics can defeat their purpose of informing the public with too much heavy mental lifting.

Real news demands that consumers take time to pay attention; most won't. Americans get impatient with stories that have foreign datelines, and quote sources far removed from our mainstream. But if we'd read more of them would we have been better prepared for Sept. 11? 
Those who do pay attention know that Danny Pearl devoted himself to a nomadic, financially unrewarding, often dangerous profession. Driven by a sense of curiosity, fair play and maybe a belief that being a journalist would protect him, he apparently never lost a naive belief that if he could explain the conflict, it could be resolved. 

Mariane Pearl, who is seven months pregnant with the couple's first child, said in a statement that terrorists who killed her husband did not succeed in seizing his dignity or value as a human being. Mrs. Pearl, also a reporter, revealed her own idealism when she described her late husband as "not a hero, not a spy, but an ordinary man and great journalist who has traveled the world to reveal facts and seek the truth -- a value for him as sacred as freedom itself."

She added:

"Danny's principles were steadfast. He never accepted an opinion at face value nor submitted to those who tried to silence or pressure him, regardless of their power or nationality...I feel proud of Danny. I trust that our struggle will ultimately serve the greater purpose of resisting those evil people casting a shadow upon our world. This responsibility rests with each one of us no matter our age, our gender, our nationality, our religion."

Confirmation of Pearl's death came the day before Olympic figure skating gold medallist Sarah Hughes, of New York, performed a special program in Salt Lake City to honor all those killed in the Sept. 11 terrorism attacks. Just 16, Hughes symbolizes the beauty, talent and grace of our species. Danny Pearl's killers represent all that is ignorant and malevolent in us.

Knowing that we each choose our own path, Mrs. Pearl's wish is that we "inspire each other to goodness." It is a fitting epitaph for Danny Pearl's too-short life.


© 2002 The Women Syndicate

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