Video Transcript
Hannah Beam: Students gathered at Newhouse Thursday night for a discussion on journalist safety, part of the university’s “Silenced” series. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, in 20-25 109 journalists were killed all over the world… with hundreds more imprisoned or missing worldwide. The event brings those global risks into focus for students preparing to enter the field.
Jack Siciliano: There’s a lot you can learn from these people who come to these things, ’cause they have real experience even as recently as within the last couple of months. So there’s just so much you can learn on top of what you’re already getting from your Newhouse classes.
Beam: Students say hearing directly from experienced journalists adds perspective beyond the classroom.
Siciliano: It’s really important work to be involved in these situations as a journalist and reporting on them to the people that need to know about them. So I think, um, I’ll be able to take what I learned here into my career, and hopefully be very successful.
Beam: This wall at Newhouse honors the names of more than 19 hundred journalists killed in action since 1992… As Syracuse students prepare to enter the field, they’re also confronting the risks that come with telling these stories.
Mary Alice Williams: People in the field, young reporters who are hungry and out there in the streets, who can show what’s really going on. That will preserve democracy, and nothing short of that. will preserve democracy.
Beam: Reporting in Syracuse for NCC News, I’m Hannah Beam.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — As global threats against journalists continue to rise, Syracuse University students are getting a closer look at the risks tied to the profession they are preparing to enter.
Students, faculty and media professionals gathered Thursday night at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications for a dinner and panel discussion focused on journalist safety. The event is part of the university’s “Silenced: Targeting Journalists and the Fight for Truth” series, created in response to increasing violence against members of the media.
According to data from the Committee to Protect Journalists, seven journalists and media workers have been killed so far in 2026. In addition, 88 journalists are currently missing, and 337 are imprisoned worldwide.
The data reflects a broader trend. Since 1992, more than 1,900 journalists and media workers have been killed globally.
The “Silenced” series aims to move beyond awareness and focus on preparation, giving students the opportunity to hear directly from experienced journalists and industry professionals.
Jack Siciliano, an aspiring journalist who attended the event, said hearing from professionals in the field adds a new level of understanding beyond the classroom.
“There’s a lot you can learn from these people who come to these things, ’cause they have real experience even as recently as within the last couple of months,” Siciliano said. “So there’s just so much you can learn on top of what you’re already getting from your Newhouse classes.”
Siciliano said the discussion reinforced the importance of journalism, even in high-risk situations.
“It’s really important work to be involved in these situations as a journalist and reporting on them to the people that need to know about them,” Siciliano said. “So I think I’ll be able to take what I learned here into my career, and hopefully be very successful.”
The panel was moderated by Mary Alice Williams, a veteran broadcast journalist who made history as the first woman to anchor a network news program in prime time and the first to serve as a vice president of a network news division. Williams emphasized the critical role journalists play in society, even as risks increase.
“People in the field, young reporters who are hungry and out there in the streets, who can show what’s really going on… will preserve democracy,” Williams said.
The event was organized by Ken Harper, an associate professor of visual communications at Newhouse and director of the multimedia, photography and design graduate program. Harper developed the “Silenced” series to honor journalists who have been killed and to prepare students for the realities of reporting in dangerous environments.
In addition to Thursday’s discussion, the series continues Friday with a full-day training workshop focused on journalist safety. Sessions will cover topics including trauma-informed reporting, digital security and field risk assessment, providing students with practical tools to navigate the challenges of modern journalism.