OPINION | We are Journalists, but We are Human Too

We show up earlier than anyone else. We stay long after everyone has gone home. We stand in the heat, skip our meals, and set aside our own comfort—all so we can capture a moment that may never come again. We do this because we believe stories matter. 𝗪𝗲 𝗱𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗻.

And yet, in the midst of victories and celebrations, we are forgotten. Our voices are drowned out. Our efforts are invisible. People need the photos, the articles, the coverage—but they rarely see the people behind them.

Too often, photojournalists are treated like slaves—personal photographers expected to follow orders, take endless shots, and provide nothing more than “𝘢𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘤” pictures for social media. Our photos, meant to tell stories, are reduced to decoration. Our craft, built on truth, is diminished into content. And it sucks.

We are not tools for your posts or props for your feeds. 𝗪𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱. 𝗪𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲. 𝗪𝗲 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗱. 𝗪𝗲 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗵𝘂𝗻𝗴𝗿𝘆. 𝗪𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗸 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻, 𝘁𝗼𝗼. But we keep going, because it’s our calling to tell stories from every angle—even the ones no one else dares to look at.

We don’t ask for medals or parades, because we know they will never come. The truth is, the only people who will ever truly understand us are fellow journalists. They know what it means to stand in the heat with an empty stomach, to stay long after everyone else has gone home, to lose sleep over stories that may never even be noticed.

And maybe that’s enough. Because when the world forgets us, we remember each other. When no one else stands by us, we stand together—awkwardly by the bleachers, silently, under the sun, carrying cameras and notebooks heavier than our own tired bodies.

𝗪𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗷𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁𝘀, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝘄𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗵𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗼𝗼. And when the world turns its eyes away, we will keep telling its stories; we speak the truth, and we push oppression despite the suffocation society puts us under, because we know that somewhere out there, another journalist is doing the same for us.

To my fellow journalists, congratulations. We deserve it. But we deserve better.

We hear you. We tell your stories. All we ask is that you hear us too.

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