(soft dramatic music)
- There's more and more kidnappings
occurring of freelance journalists,
and that's a danger that didn't exist before.
- Our son James Foley died to tell us the truth.
- Those of us who've gone through a kidnapping
realize very quickly that no one can comprehend this.
- Journalists are our eyes and ears when there's a conflict.
- There's a term called ground truth,
and that's where you're on the ground
speaking to people, speaking to civilians
about was there an abuse,
was there a massacre
in this village?
As big news organizations have struggled financially,
they've gotten rid of having bureaus,
and now there's young freelancers
like James Foley and Steven Sotloff
who are out there covering the news on their own.
- I think it's important that people understand
that there's people there that are in danger all the time
to make sure that they're able to get the news properly.
(crowd shouting) - To be a freelance journalist
is to be out there
completely alone without any guarantee
that your article's going to be accepted,
that your article's going to be published,
that you are going to be paid,
but at the same time, you are free.
- They usually go into places
where other journalists won't go.
- Perfect example was Syria in 2012.
It became incredibly dangerous,
so, most of the major media companies pulled out.
(crowd shouting)
It was really up to brave freelancers
to cover what was happening.
- Steven reported things that were happening
in Benghazi after it happened. (sighs)
- When Jim went missing,
there was no one whose job it was
to help bring Americans home, no one at all.
- The reality of U.S. government policy
is that the government does not pay ransom.
- It was scary.
It was scary for us.
- A family is on its own.
(optimistic orchestral music)
- The Foleys have, I think,
changed the whole culture regarding
news organizations and the U.S. government
in terms of what they should do to help freelancers.
- I'm happy to say that now,
we actually have a U.S. Fusion Cell,
a presidential envoy, and our Hostage Recovery Group.
- The last captive that was released was able
to smuggle a letter to us from Steven,
and one of the things that he said in his letter was,
"Everyone has two lives.
"The second one begins when you realize you only have one."
This is why my wife and I
have started the 2Lives Foundation,
which takes journalists through security,
first aid, cybersecurity.
(group applauding) - [Man] Good job, guys!
- We really believe that if Steven had had some training,
perhaps today he would be alive.
(melancholy piano music)
- I work closely with the board of the Foley Foundation,
because Jim, to me, is like a brother.
The only difference between him and me is,
oh, jeez,
is that they put the knife back.
- There are hundreds of Americans who are taken every year,
and most of us never know anything about it.
- In the journalism that we all depend on,
the people who produce that journalism, they're real people,
and they take tremendous risks to do this work.
- They are there and they are witnessing
first hand what is going on.
- Yeah, he wanted to tell the truth.
It was hard, but he did.
- People aren't giving up.
People are sort of building and doing
what we think Jim and Steven would want us to do,
and that's fighting the fight and speaking truth to power.
- What happens out there in our world today is not isolated.
It's not far away.
We're all the same.
(solemn music)