Opinion: A moment of silence in memory of three courageous journalists

This editorial represents the consensus opinion of The Daily Herald Editorial Board.

In our Sunday print editions, we offer a unique tribute to honor the memories of Brent Renaud, Pierre Zakrzewski and Olexandra Kuvshynova, journalists who were killed last week while covering the war in Ukraine.

Renaud, a Peabody Award-winning documentary filmmaker from of Arkansas, was shot to death on March 13 after passing through a Russian checkpoint in Irpin, northwest of Kyiv.

Zakrzewski, a 55-year-old British cameraman, and Kuvshynova, a 24-year-old Ukrainian journalist working as part of his Fox News team along with reporter Benjamin Hall, were killed on March 14 when their vehicle came under fire in Kyiv suburb of Horenka to the northeast of Irpin.

In honoring their memories, we also honor the courage of all journalists in Ukraine and around the globe, who devote themselves to the public's right and need to know, often under hostile and dangerous conditions.

Less than three months into the year, 19 journalists have been slain throughout the world. To aid in efforts to support journalistic safety, we ask that you consider a donation to the international Reporters Without Borders.

At the same time, our page mourns the lost of liberty in Russia, where the autocracy views a free press as an enemy of the people rather than as the essential safeguard of freedom that is it.

After the fall of the Iron Curtain 30 years ago, our paper welcomed tours of journalists from Russia who visited with us as well as other news organizations in the United States to learn more about the news media's role as a check on government.

Those Russian journalists were so enthralled by our freedoms and responsibilities and so buoyed by the role ahead of them in a homeland that was embracing new democratic liberties.

We grieve for their loss of those freedoms and the demolition of the ideals they embraced.

We pray not just for the health of journalists throughout the world and for the people of Ukraine, but also for the people of Russia, who are the targets of this crackdown on free speech and information. They too are victims of this unjust war.