If you ever watched the Killing Fields, you know about Dith Pran, even if you forgot his name. He died this weekend and his story is being retold by most major western newspapers. The Independent in England ran a great article that outlines his role as an infomediary, a fixer who enabled journalists from the west to function in the hostile world of 1970s Cambodia. There are many others playing that role now around the world and they are perhaps even more overlooked now by a news media intent on presenting stories through photogenic, white-toothed, personalities impersonating journalists. What Dith Pran provided was literally a life or death service and we would all do well to remember the power of information and the reliance of this power on a series of human links who rarely, if ever, get the attention their role deserves.
V.M Daniel Regents Professor of Information