When Charlie Kirk was gunned down on September 10 at Utah Valley University, the headlines focused on his role as a conservative activist. But Kirk was also a podcaster with a national following — a public voice who lived and worked in the contested space between politics, journalism and opinion. His killing is still under investigation, and authorities have not identified whether it was politically motivated, connected to his podcasting, or the act of a lone individual. Still, the shooting raises urgent questions for anyone working in media: what does society lose when voices are silenced, and how do we protect those who dare to speak?
That question is at the center of a new book edited by Dr. Peter Laufer, “Don't Shoot the Journalists: Migrating to Stay Alive,” published in May 2025. Laufer, a world-traveling journalist and author of more than 20 books, now holds the James Wallace Chair of Journalism at the University of Oregon. The book grew out of a university conference on exiled reporters, gathering first-hand accounts from journalists who fled Afghanistan, Gaza, Mexico, and even newsrooms here in the United States.
“This is a forward-looking book,” Laufer explained. “We wanted to understand not only the problems — threats, exile and violence — but also the solutions. What organizations exist to help? How can communities respond?”
Real danger, global and domestic
The book includes a harrowing chapter by Afghan journalist Baktash Siawsh whose brother was killed when a bomb detonated under his car on the way to work. Siawsh eventually escaped Kabul with the help of a German refugee program for writers in exile. Another chapter profiles a Gaza-based reporter for Al Jazeera who fled after receiving death threats.
But Laufer emphasized that these problems are not only foreign. “We are not just turning the camera away from the United States and saying, ‘Look at the mess in the world,’” he said. “There are three chapters that look at these types of problems in America.”
One of them focuses on veteran broadcaster Jeff Kamen, who covered Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement. Jeff Kamen was beaten by the Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi while reporting. “Jeff self-exiled the next day,” Laufer said. “He has never returned to Mississippi.”
Other chapters profile a Black newspaper editor in Portland, OR who eventually left her city because of constant pressure, and a Las Vegas investigative journalist who was murdered outside his home after exposing misconduct by a county employee.
“These stories remind us we are not immune here at home,” Laufer said. “It’s dangerous, and it happens right here in the United States.”
What is lost when voices are silenced?
E&P asked Laufer what happens when journalists — or public figures like Kirk — are silenced. His answer was blunt.
“It’s such a reminder of the importance of our work and the potential danger of our work,” he said. “First of all, because of the way the Second Amendment is interpreted by the courts, lawmakers and citizenry, we live in this armed camp. Unless there’s something unique about the shooting or the victim, it becomes almost like a routine: another shooting, another shooting.”
That normalization, Laufer warned, has two consequences. “There’s the actual danger. And then there are the repercussions — perhaps one of the worst is self-censorship. Reporters ask themselves, ‘What story is worth dying for?’ Well, the only fair answer is no story. Because if you die, you can’t report the next one. So where does that level of self-censorship take hold?”
Teaching survival in journalism schools
As an academic, Laufer said he now spends part of his classroom time on something that was never emphasized when he was a young reporter: survival.
“I teach directly — and I’m not alone amongst the faculty — I teach survival,” he said. “Along with all of the other potential dangers of being a reporter, journalists today have to think about their personal safety in relation to what they're reporting and how the audience receives that.”
Laufer pointed to a recent case in Colorado as an example of the threats journalists face in everyday settings. A man followed a local television reporter in a taxi, harassed him about his background and ultimately assaulted the reporter outside his station.
“That’s just one incident, one crazy person,” Laufer said. “But unfortunately, in today’s environment, I teach survival tactics to journalism students.”
Polarization and equal risk
At that point, I pressed Laufer on whether the same risks applied across the political spectrum. Could a right-leaning reporter face a similar attack from someone with the opposite worldview?
“Of course,” Laufer responded. “We have criminals, unbalanced individuals — however we want to identify an assassin of this ilk or an assassin of any ilk. And that’s why we have to bear this in mind as we practice our profession. We must take as much responsibility as possible for our health and safety without jeopardizing the veracity, validity and potency of our work as journalists. And at the same time, we have to look out for each other.”
The polarized environment, he noted, makes it more critical than ever for journalists to think before they speak. “On some level, even while I’m talking to you now, I’m on a seven-second delay in my mind. We’re being a little more reticent than we would have been a generation ago.”
What is at stake
When asked what society loses when journalists are silenced, Laufer didn’t hesitate. “We are in an extraordinarily important profession. What’s at stake is our democracy itself,” he said. “Everybody wants to know what’s happening. That’s the question: What’s happening? And we provide the answers. We just need to figure out how to eat during the transition period.”
For Laufer, the assassination of Charlie Kirk only amplifies the urgency of that message. “Charlie Kirk was an example of someone engaged with media — gathering information, injecting opinions and pushing it out to an audience,” he said. “Tragically, he is an example of what this book’s title warns against: Don’t Shoot the Journalists.”
A final plea to publishers
Before signing off, Laufer turned to the industry executives who make up E&P’s audience. His message was simple: hire his students.
“I get questioned, obviously, by students: ‘Should I be doing this? Is there a future here? Can I make a living?’” he said. “And my response is: We’re in a period of disruption, but that also means we’re in a period of opportunity. Those who can muster the concepts and figure out how to report the news and make a living will find it.”
For Laufer, even amid disruption and danger, journalism endures. “We’re not going away,” he said. “Because everybody wants to know what’s happening. That’s what keeps us here.”
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