Freedom of Press: The Sitting Duck by Balthazar Rodrigue Nzomono-Balenda

Balthazar uses poetry as a tool in his book, Freedom of Press: The Sitting Duck to express himself about circumstances journalists can face when they do their reporting in their own countries or overseas. He was inspired by CNN’s Christiane Amanpour’s message on Youtube about journalists getting kidnapped, tortured or even killed for their works. He learned that most of the time, journalists are silenced by killers who are hired by those who cannot stand the idea of an independent press. In more than 85% of cases, no one was ever arrested or convicted for a crime. Balthazar agrees with Christiane Amanpour about CPJ’s advocacy making a difference because he believes that in a healthy society, freedom of press is part of a reporter’s rights to express themselves freely. Even though Balthazar is not a journalist nor interested in journalism, his objectives with this book, Freedom of press the sitting duck is to relate situations journalists face while doing their work, and others who may have different occupations but deal with similar situations: Human Rights activists, Greenpeace activists, authors, freedom fighters, bloggers, aid workers, NGOs etc. Balthazar’s approach is that journalists are also people who have a right to their profession. The message, which he gives to his readers, is that in our Western societies, we must not take freedom of press for granted. He believes that CPJ must keep fighting for justice against murderers who have walked away from their wordings with impunity. Peace without justice is like setting yourself unrealistic goals.


Balthazar Rodrigue Nzomono-Balenda is not only an author and a poet, but also a student, multimedia designer and translator. His previous books include The Depth of My Soul and The Struggle for Power and the Fight for Survival. Balthazar became interested in poetry in 2003 when he wasn’t satisfied with the way things were going in his early studies and in the Danish society. His latest book is Freedom of Press: The Sitting Duck. You can visit Balthazar on the web at http://www.redroom.com/author/balthazar-rodrigue-nzomono-balenda.

You may read an exceprt from Balthazar's latest collection at http://virtualbooktoursforauthors.blogspot.com/2009/09/freedom-of-press-virtual-book-tour-09.html.

The Depth of My Soul by Balthazar Rodrigue Nzomono-Balenda

The Depth of My Soul is a book of poetry focusing on injustices such as wars, corruption, war crimes, religious fundamentalism, child abuse, other types of abuse, torture, dictatorship, relationship problems etc. When the author wrote this book, he was inspired by the news on CNN and other media. The goal of this book is to share his approach with readers about the problems the world faces.

Balthazar would love to hear from you. You can visit his website at www.ganymedeweb.com.

After reading this synopsis, it seemed interesting that a poet would use CNN and other media as a basis for his work. This is the topic I asked Balthazar to discuss in his guest article today.

Balthazar's Turn:

News as Inspiration
by Balthazar Rodrigue Nzomono-Balenda

News is relevant because it provides me with information to research about different themes, which are the desires of my heart. I watch news everyday on CNN, BBC, TV5 Monde every single day, 365 days a year. When I get news on my fingertips, I keep myself up to date about several events, which are taking place around the world. I use the news as the inspiration because I want to share my approach about these events.

Very often I get inspiration from CNN anchors, such as Christiane Amanpour for her programs about the 3 monotheist religions and the war crimes our politicians ignore because of certain interests. I watch coverage about wars, genocides, religious conflicts, political problems, immigration, dictatorship, xenophobia, financial crisis, natural disasters etc.

It’s not just about being inspired, but the idea of using this inspiration in an effective way to reach out to my readers when I write a book. I must admit that I am not interested in everything I hear on the news. I choose themes that are an inspiration to me. Besides watching the news, I go on the internet and research different themes that I want to use for my books. Sometimes, I am frustrated about the events that I watch on the news i.e. politicians in our part of the world talk about freedom and justice, but work with dictators for their interests. I find it very sick, and it makes so angry that I have trillions of questions in my mind about them. I usually grumble about their approach to dictators who torture their people, who ignore their citizens living in poverty dying of different kinds of diseases and illnesses. It got me nowhere, and I was the one who was suffering. That’s why I decided to approach these problems by expressing myself through the most powerful too, which sometimes makes no sense. That’s poetry. Writing books about the problems we face in our societies, is an opportunity for me to share my views with my readers and learn from them as well.