Is the truth worth a life? A cherished Ukrainian journalist who fearlessly reported from Ukraine's occupied territories was taken by Russian forces last year. Last week, she was reported dead in custody.
War reporter 'dead in a Russian jail'
Is the truth worth a life? A cherished Ukrainian journalist who fearlessly reported from Ukraine's occupied territories was taken by Russian forces last year. Last week, she was reported dead in custody.
"The difficulty, my friends, is not in avoiding death, but in avoiding unrighteousness; for that runs faster than death."
So spoke SocratesConsidered by some to be the greatest philosopher in history, Socrates is credited with developing the whole notion of critical reason. almost 2,500 years ago in 399BC. He was speaking in his own defence against a jury of hundreds of Athenian men on the charges of "corrupting the youth" and "not believing in the gods in whom the city believes."
The trial lasted just a day. The court ordered the death penalty for the old philosopher. And though all of the citizens of Athens expected him to flee his sentence, as was custom, Socrates chose to stay and die for his beliefs.
"No evil can happen to a good man, either in life or after death," he observed in one of the concluding remarks of his defence.
He might have been one of the first to sacrifice his life for the sake of truth. But we still see such startling bravery today. Earlier this year, it was reported that one in 10 journalists and reporters in Gaza have been killed since Israel launched its military attacks last year.1 And at least 15 journalists and media workers have been killed covering Russia's relentless war in Ukraine.
Yet thousands remain on the ground, so committed to the cause of truth that they would risk their lives to bring it to light. Victoria Roshchyna, a Ukrainian journalist abducted by Russian forces in August 2023, was one of those reporters.
She disappeared while travelling to Ukraine's occupied territories. But her family heard no news of her for over a year, before a letter from the Russian Defence Ministry confirmed that she had died in captivity on 19 September.
Roshchyna focused on human rights, crime and war, and wanted to bring power to account. She was described as "an intrepid witness to history".
It brings to mind one of the most famous anti-regime journalists of all time. Anna Politkovskaya, an investigative journalist from Russia, repeatedly risked her life to report on human rights abuses in the war in Chechnya and Putin's authoritarian government. A fierce and prominent critic of the Kremlin, she was threatened, poisoned, abducted and ultimately murdered at her home in Moscow - on Putin's birthday.2
It is hard to conceive of the courage that drives journalists like Roshchyna to put their lives at risk to unearth the truth. Their sacrifice, some say, should be remembered. As Lesya Ukrainka, one of Ukraine's national writers, once wrote: "It is from the hands of death that people get immortality."
Is the truth worth a life?
Yes: By letting the world know what is really happening in conflict zones around the world, journalists and reporters prevent countless deaths. They hold bloodthirsty regimes to account and prevent the worst war crimes from taking place.
No: Journalists should not be faced with a decision between truth and life. Telling a story, even if it is a true one, is not worth suffering, death and decades of mourning.
Or... There is no single version of the truth. People can spend, and even sacrifice, their lives reporting on important issues. But there is always another side to the story.
Socrates - Considered by some to be the greatest philosopher in history, Socrates is credited with developing the whole notion of critical reason.
War reporter ‘dead in a Russian jail’

Glossary
Socrates - Considered by some to be the greatest philosopher in history, Socrates is credited with developing the whole notion of critical reason.