Two Journalists being held in North Korea

When I decided to be a journalist, I thought I'd chosen a relatively safe career. I wasn't going to be a cop or soldier, which both ask you to risk your life on a daily basis. I wasn't even going to be a fisherman, who face the prospect of drowning every day. (Click here for a link to a list of some of the most dangerous jobs.)

No, I was going to be a journalist. A safe journalist. WRONG! In the last couple of years, I've realized that a journalist is not always safe. If you write about something that upsets someone, then you make risk physical or property repercussions. Or if you are a foreign correspondent, you may be asked to enter war-zone, which were traditionally scary for journalists but now the conditions in war are becoming increasingly unsafe for journalists (see my post Life of a foreign correspondent or the BBC article on the topic for more information.)

Even if you are researching a controversial topic, you can be at risk. Just ask two journalists who are now being detained in North Korea. The two were apparently researching North Korean refugees when they were arrested in China, according to an article on the BBC. The two will most likely be charged for entering North Korea illegally from China, though the word espionage was thrown around a couple of times in the BBC article.

I have to say that I'm pretty scared for those two journalists. Though the BBC article said they were being treated well, I don't North Korea has the best record in terms of human rights.

Plus, I'm scared about how these cases could chill some journalistic activities. If journalists are threatened with imprisonment, they are probably not going to be as excited about investigative stories. In this case, the women (Euna Lee and Laura Ling) allegedly did something illegal, so yes, they will probably need to face some consequences. But if they get five years for entering North Korea illegally (as the AP is reporting), I think that will be pretty unfair. You get five years in the U.S. for stealing cars. If you ask me, if those journalists get five years, the North Korean government will just be trying to get back at them for researching an unflattering topic about North Korea.

To me, that is just wrong and scary. Maybe I didn't pick such a safe career after all!