2015 proved to be a dangerous year for many journalists, including 72 who were killed. On World Press Freedom Day, we're honoring those who've fought to tell tough but true stories with these films showcasing their work.
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8 films featuring journalists' fight for freedom of expression
On World Press Freedom Day (3.5.2016) we're honoring those journalists who've fought for their right to freedom of expression by looking at eight films telling their stories.
Image: Bild: BR/Wiedemann & Berg Film
Razor's Edge
The 2016 winner of Deutsche Welle's Best of the Blogs (The Bobs) prize for citizen journalism, the documentary "Razor's Edge" examines the situation that many secular bloggers and writers face in Bangladesh after attacks have left numerous people dead at the hands of religious extremists, including four in the last five weeks, because of their writing.
Image: Nastiker Dharmakatha
Frame By Frame
"Frame By Frame" follows four of Afghanistan's new crop of young photojournalists, who're learning how to shoot stories after years of living under a regime which banned photography. After a screening at the US Embassy in Kabul, seven journalists from the local TOLO news were killed in a suicide bombing, driving home the dangers these journalists face every day.
Image: Film Fprout
All the President's Men
Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein were two journalists working for the "Washington Post" who led the investigation of US President Richard Nixon's role in the Watergate hotel break-in that eventually led to his resignation. The pair wrote of their experience in "All the President's Men" which was made into a film by Robert Redford.
Image: Warner Bros./dapd
Good Night and Good Luck
Filmed in black and white to capture the atmosphere of broadcast journalism's early days "Good Night and Good Luck" stars George Clooney and focuses on tv newsman Edward R. Murrow's fight to expose the tactics employed in the US by Senator Joseph McCarthy in his 1953 "Red Scare" campaign to uncover "Communists" in the government and celebrity circles, a label which ruined many careers at the time.
Image: Kinowelt
People vs. Larry Flynt
The lawsuit by Reverend Jerry Falwell against Larry Flynt, the publisher of the nude magazine "Hustler" serves as the backdrop of the 1996 film the "People vs. Larry Flynt." The film about the controversial pornography publisher shows his clash with religious institutions and the law.
Image: dpa
Forbidden Voices
Three young women bloggers are the focus of Zurich-based director Barbara Miller's documentary (2012). From Cuba, China and Iran respectively, Yoani Sánchez, Zeng Jinyan und Farnaz Seifi use social media to bring awareness to the world about life under the dictatorial regimes in their homelands. Their work gets so much attention that they end up risking their lives to get the stories out.
Image: Das Kollektiv
Burma VJ
Danish Filmmaker Anders Østergaard focuses on the drama that unfolded in Burma in 2007 after Buddhist nuns and monks took to the streets to protest drastic price increases. After the protests turned against the country's military leaders, international news teams were kicked out of the country and filming could only be done in secret.
Image: flickr/Steve Rhodes
Die Spiegel Affaire (The Spiegel Affair)
Germany's "Der Spiegel" news magazine published an article about the sad state of the West German military in 1962, an article which brought out such an immense rage in Defense Minister Franz Josef Strauß that a search of the magazine's office was conducted. The arrests of editors led to an uproar among citizens who saw it as an attack on press freedom and protested, as this ARD film portrays.
Image: Bild: BR/Wiedemann & Berg Film
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Freedom of the press is still a long way off for journalists working in many countries. Freely-reported news and information is inaccessible to nearly half of the world's population according to the non-profit Reporters Without Borders.
As the media landscape changes, so, too, do the threats that reporters and media makers the world over face. In 2015, those threats proved fatal for 72 colleagues who were killed for their work in countries around the world, including Syria, Bangladesh, France and Mexico, as The Committee to Protect Journalists reported.
That's why it's so important on World Press Freedom Day (3.5.2016) and every other day to honor those journalists doing the hard investigative work on topics like corruption, politics and human rights. From the reporters who blew the cover off the Watergate scandal leading to the resignation of US President Richard Nixon in 1974 portrayed in "All the President's Men" to the modern-day heroes in Afghanistan and Bangladesh portrayed in the documentaries "Frame By Frame" and "Razor's Edge," the journalists featured in these films have shown the struggles many of our colleagues have faced while getting the story.
Check out these films to get an inside look at the fight for freedom of expression that continues in many countries even today.
