Twenty years after the Windhoek Declaration on press freedom
Twenty years after the Windhoek Declaration on press freedom
Twenty years after the Windhoek Declaration on press freedom
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photojournalist<br />
By Kevin Ritchie<br />
Kevin Ritchie is managing editor of<br />
<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> Saturday Star.<br />
The news when it came was like a<br />
punch to <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> solar plexus. “Ant<strong>on</strong>’s<br />
been taken pris<strong>on</strong>er in Libya.”<br />
It was late at night, but <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> social<br />
networks were abuzz shortly <str<strong>on</strong>g>after</str<strong>on</strong>g>wards,<br />
closely followed by <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> wire<br />
services and <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>n <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> newspapers.<br />
And <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>n <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> wait began.<br />
For 46 days, Ant<strong>on</strong>’s family, friends<br />
and former colleagues gave <strong>on</strong>e<br />
ano<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>r succour, held vigils in Cape<br />
Town, Johannesburg and L<strong>on</strong>d<strong>on</strong><br />
and pushed <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> South African<br />
government to act to get him freed.<br />
Posters were brandished, T-shirts<br />
pulled over work shirts and talk<br />
show hosts inundated <strong>on</strong> radio and<br />
TV.<br />
The not-knowing was <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> worst. The<br />
snippets that every<strong>on</strong>e seized would<br />
turn out to be half-truths, sinister<br />
pointers towards <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> real story that<br />
every<strong>on</strong>e feared, but didn’t want to<br />
hear — Ant<strong>on</strong> had been killed <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />
day <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> three o<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>r journalists who<br />
he was with outside Brega were<br />
captured.<br />
The four of <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>m, all freelancers, had<br />
been with rebel soldiers when <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />
government troops crested <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> hill.<br />
Secti<strong>on</strong> 1: Freedom<br />
The troops crested it, and opened<br />
fire wildly.<br />
The rebels, whom Ant<strong>on</strong> and <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> four<br />
had been documenting, scattered.<br />
Ant<strong>on</strong> lay, mortally wounded, as his<br />
three compani<strong>on</strong>s screamed at <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />
troops to cease fire.<br />
The soldiers knew <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>y’d made a<br />
mistake — Ant<strong>on</strong>’s colleagues have<br />
no doubt about that. In <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> heat of<br />
war, young and scared <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>y’d fired<br />
first — with devastating c<strong>on</strong>sequences.<br />
The three surviving journalists made<br />
a pact, <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>y could not tell <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> world<br />
about Ant<strong>on</strong>’s death because <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>y<br />
knew <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>y had witnessed a war<br />
crime. If <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>y spoke out, <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>y might<br />
jeopardise <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>ir own lives and never<br />
live to tell <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> truth about what<br />
happened to Ant<strong>on</strong>.<br />
“Ant<strong>on</strong> was a<br />
committed journalist<br />
to <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> very end. He<br />
was fearless, though<br />
never foolhardy,<br />
and he never lost<br />
<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> quintessential<br />
integrity of his craft<br />
as a photojournalist.”<br />
Ant<strong>on</strong> Hammerl was a newspaperman,<br />
a hardcore news photographer,<br />
an artist, a fa<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>r, a husband and a<br />
friend.<br />
Johannesburg-born and bred to<br />
Austrian parents, he enrolled at<br />
<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> renowned Pretoria Technik<strong>on</strong>’s<br />
photographic school, but left before<br />
qualifying to follow his dream of<br />
becoming a news photographer.<br />
Media in Africa - 2011 | 61