Lecturer publishes book on the risks of the free pressANN ARBOR—”Your responsibility as a journalist is to decide just how great the risk is to report on a story,” says University of Michigan Lecturer Tony Collings. His recently released book, “Words of Fire: Independent Journalists Who Challenge Dictators, Druglords, and Other Enemies of a Free Press,” is dedicated to the more than 1,300 journalists around the world who have risked everything and lost their lives trying to report the truth.

Collings has spent years collecting data and gathering stories on journalists who have struggled for a free press. Many have gone up against dictators, hostile militaries and terrorists in search of the facts. “Sometimes they’ve gone to prison, gotten beat up, threatened or in a few cases they’ve been killed,” says Collings. “This book talks about those courageous journalists who’ve resisted or tried to resist efforts to silence them.”

The inspiration for “Words Of Fire” came in 1997, when Collings was about to retire from CNN. As a foreign correspondent at that news organization and Newsweek magazine, Collings reflected on the many dangerous situations he faced as a reporter. The most serious was in 1981; Syrian soldiers took Collings and his crew captive and held them at gunpoint during the Israeli missile crisis. Despite the severity of the situation, Collings’ first thoughts were not of his safety, but of freedom of the press. He was outraged that he was not going to be able to do the story unless his captors let them go. Fortunately, Collings and his crew were released, but he did not get to finish his story. Collings wanted to know just how far other journalists had gone to report the truth.

“In certain areas of the world you have great press freedom like the United States. In communist and other totalitarian countries you have no rights as a journalist at all and then there’s those countries in between. Some independent journalists see their work as a crusade and battle their repressors. Those are the situations I focused on,” says Collings.

“Words of Fire” highlights the efforts of many journalists including a Mexican newspaper publisher who was the target of an assassination attempt, a Russian reporter captured while covering the war in Chechnya, a Chinese American woman sued for criminal libel in Taiwan, and a Nigerian woman imprisoned for publishing candid articles about her country’s dictator.

Collings hopes “Words of Fire” shows readers the positive side of journalism and the relentless efforts of many reporters to deliver the truth. He acknowledges that there has been a greater shift toward a free press worldwide, but in many countries there is still a long way to go.

“Words of Fire” was released just a few weeks ago and is receiving good reviews from the Chicago Tribune, Library Journal and the Weekly Standard.

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