Marked for Death

Where do journalists find the guts to keep telling the truth in places where truth-telling will get them murdered?

Organizations such as the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Sans Frontières bring us the death toll from around the world, and that number is truly daunting: since 1992 more than 730 journalists have been killed–nearly three-quarters of them targeted and murdered. Over 85% of the fallen have been local journalists trying to unveil violence and corruption in their own back yards. Worse, 95% of the people who ordered their murder remain unpunished.

Who are these journalists who have sacrificed literally everything for the story? Where did they find their courage? Investigative reporter Terry Gould traveled to the five most dangerous countries in which to be a journalist—Iraq, the Philippines, Russia, Colombia and Bangladesh. This audiobook presents Gould’s unforgettable portraits of seven murdered journalists who carried on despite death threats from terrorists, corrupt politicians, gangsters and paramilitary leaders.

Gould brings us the lovers, the colleagues, the rivals, the critics and even the accused murderers of these courageous men and women, searching for the moment when each of his protagonists understood that they were willing to die in order to get a story out. He finds intriguing and complex reasons for such bravery. Their stories show how selflessly humans can love justice and their fellow citizens; how dogged and resourceful people can be in attempts to thwart injustice; how vital it is to show the defeated and the indifferent, as well as the powerful, and that there really are some things worth dying for.

All of Gould’s subjects, no matter how fallible or flawed, “went to work each morning with the conviction that the calling of journalism was to defend the defenseless.” Gould honors their memories by “bringing their lives and the stories they worked on to light, telling truth to those who would murder truth-tellers.”