New York Times

Los Angeles Times

Washington Post

The Committee to Protect Journalists is 'an independant, nonprofit organization dedicated to defending press freedom worldwide'. Their website contains stories of journalists from all around the world who have been abducted, missing, killed, or placed in jail. For example, Bilal Hussein, who was reporting in Iraq for the Associated Press. He is held in U.S. custody there, with a lack of a charge or evidence of a crime, according to the website. This website has a disturbingly large amount of stories about journalists killed while reporting, many in their own countries. The CPJ website has the stories of 55 journalists killed in 2006, 47 in 2005, 57 in 2004, and so on. Fakher Haider, who reported for the New York Times, was taken from his home in Basra and murdered, in September 2005. Something I find most interesting after reading all of these stories is that despite all the dangers of reporting, especially during war times, there are still many journalists who travel to foreign countries, or even remain in their own country, and continue to report on such situations. This, I think, shows an extraordinary sense of dedication and bravery.
Project Censored , "the news that didn't make the news", is a website that contains stories not covered by the mass media. The #7 top censored story of 2006, "Journalists Face Unprecedented Dangers to Life and Livelihood" discusses reporters not affiliated with the US military who, accoring to the story, are often seen as targets and enemies to the military. An example of this is an attack on a hotel in Palestine which housed over 100 journalists. Pentagon officials, apparently, were aware of this hotel and had promised it would not be targeted.
"As a matter of military doctrine, the U.S. military dominates, at all costs, every element of battle, including our perception of what they do. The need for control leads the Pentagon to urge journalists to embed themselves within the military, where they can go where they are told and film and tell stories only from a pro-American point of view. The Pentagon offers embedded journalists a great deal of protection. As the Pentagon sees it, non-embedded eyes and ears do not have any military significance, and unless Congress and the American people stop them, the military will continue to target independent journalists. Admirals and generals see the world one way, reporters another; the clash leads to the deaths of too many journalists."

Nellie Bye is one of America's most influential journalists of the late 1800's and early 1900's. Her writing focused mainly on social problems, and inspired reforms. She pioneered techniques such as undercover and immersion journalism. Her most well-known undercover story was that of an insane asylum in New York. Nellie Bly pretended to be insane, and stayed in a madhouse for several days, reporting on the horrible conditions there. Nellie Bly's writings have inspired and influenced many modern journalists.
A newspaper's purpose is to inform the public of events and situations in the world around them. However, newspapers are no longer the only source of public information. Radio, television, and the internet, for example, have become increasing popular methods of obtaining news. Newspapers have adapted to advances such as the internet by making their stories available online.
One of the most influential books in my life is Herman Wouk's The Winds of War. I am actually just beginning this novel, but I already find it very intriguing. The story tells of the beginnings of World War Two, but also contains fictional characters and plotlines. These stories are continued in Wouk's next novel, War and Rememberance, which is on my desk and will be read as soon as I finish Winds of War.