Japan's humanitarian journalist Kenji Goto remembered

JSTORIES ー It’s been ten years since Japanese journalist Kenji Goto was captured and killed by an Islamic State militant. He risked his life to cover the lives of local people in war-torn zones of Syria and Iraq. Our Executive Editor, Toshi Maeda, a journalist who used to work with Kenji Goto, has expressed his admiration for Mr. Goto’s dedication to writing the truth despite the dangers.

PBMC aims to produce trusted content that connects people and promotes a fairer world through content production, multilingualism, and technology. Kenji Goto’s brand of journalism greatly influenced and inspired us, so we co-sponsored his memorial to honor his legacy.

We provided video coverage of the memorial, including a live broadcast for Mari Goto, Kenji Goto’s eldest daughter, who currently lives in the Netherlands. She participated online during the event. We also took care of receiving visitors.

Around 110 journalists and other visitors who knew Kenji Goto gathered at the Hibiya Library and Museum in Tokyo for the service. The event hosts were Toshi Maeda and Mayumi Fukuzawa of Nippon Television news bureau. There were four guest speakers at the event, including Endo Masao, a journalist who documented Goto’s site of death and burial, and Taku Nishimae, the organizer of “I AM KENJI,” the global campaign for Goto’s rescue.

A panel discussion was to discuss topics such as “Why do journalists go to war zones?” and “The situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime.” This was a way to give a broader context and reflect Kenji Goto’s achievements in this field.

“It was a meaningful time to look back on Mr. Goto’s activities with so many journalists at this 10-year milestone and discuss what the media and journalists should be in the future. We want to carry on Mr. Goto’s legacy, learning from his approach of standing by those who are in need, and do our best to explore a new form of journalism in ways that we can contribute, striving toward the realization of a rich and fair world in our way.”

The memorial service was also covered by Nippon Television, Christian Today and other news agencies.For details, please see the following articles.

For inquiries regarding this article, please contact jstories@pacificbridge.jp

Written by Emi Takahata

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