From The Village Voice

"For it has been said so truthfully that it is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us the freedom of the press." So said Georgia senator Zell Miller, the Democrat who played keynote speaker at the GOP convention. The crowd at MSG loved it. Unfortunately for journalists killed while doing their jobs this year, what Miller said is not entirely true. Some journos sacrifice as much as soldiers.

This year, 55 of them did, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (cpj.org): Manik Saha, Humayun Kabir, Kamal Hossain, José Carlos Araújo, Juan Emilio Andújar Matos, Deyda Hydara, Ricardo Ortega, Asiya Jeelani, Veeraboina Yadagiri, Duraid Isa Mohammed, Safir Nader, Abdel Sattar Abdel Karim, Ayoub Mohamed, Haymin Mohamed Salih, Gharib Mohamed Salih, Semko Karim Mohyideen, Nadia Nasrat, Ali Abdel Aziz, Ali al-Khatib, Burhan Mohamed Mazhour, Asaad Kadhim, Waldemar Milewicz, Mounir Bouamrane, Rashid Hamid Wali, Shinsuke Hashida, Kotaro Ogawa, Mahmoud Hamid Abbas, Enzo Baldoni, Mazen al-Tumeizi, Karam Hussein, Dina Mohammed Hassan, Dhia Najim, Mohamed Abu Halima, Antoine Massé, Francisco Javier Ortiz Franco, Francisco Arratia Saldierna, Dekendra Raj Thapa, María José Bravo, Carlos José Guadamuz, Sajid Tanoli, Antonio de la Torre Echeandía, Ruel Endrinal, Eliseo Binoya, Rogelio Mariano, Arnel Manalo, Romeo Binungcal, Eldy Sablas, Gene Boyd Lumawag, Herson Hinolan, Adlan Khasanov, Paul Klebnikov, Simon Cumbers, Dusko Jovanovic, Aiyathurai Nadesan, and Bala Nadarajah Iyer.

So when I'm screaming at the talking heads on network and cable television I will stop and say a prayer for the brave journalists that really are trying, and succeeding most of the time, to get the truth out.