When a messenger gave Tigranes (140–55 BC), the Armenian tyrant and dictator, bad news about his enemy, he beheaded the messenger. Plutarch, in his Life of Lucullus, records that when Tigranes killed the messenger, “No one else would tell him anything, and so he sat in ignorance while the fires of war were already blazing around him, giving ear only to those who flattered him (549–450).” Sophocles (497/496–406/407 BC), an ancient Greek tragedian, observed, “Nobody loves the bringer of bad news (24). The “Don’t Shoot the Messenger” declaration and adage respond to despots like Tigranes who listen only to those who flatter.

At the heart of the “Don’t Shoot the Messenger” statement is the belief, rooted in the ancient rhetoric theories set forth by Plutarch, Sophocles, Plato, Aristotle, Quintilian, and Cicero, that the bearer of bad news needs to be heard. Shooting the messenger with vital information guarantees that citizens will, like Tigranes, “sit in ignorance.” The “Don’t Shoot the Messenger” message has ancient origins and a host of modern expressions.

Tigranes serves as a model for modern-day tyrants and dictators who have silenced, killed, and forced into exile journalists from Gaza, Russia, Ukraine, and other countries for recording and publishing their acts of murder, tyranny, and dictatorship. Several courageous journalists, victims of state violence, were honored guests at the “Extra! Extra! Don’t Kill the Messenger: Migrating to Stay Alive” conference at the University of Oregon April 4–7, 2024. The conference brought writers seeking refuge outside their home countries, journalists who performed with great courage in reporting on American racism, and scholars to hear threatened journalists speak on successful and tragic reporting in the face of mortal danger.

“Don’t Shoot the Messenger” was the throughline of the “Extra! Extra!” symposium, highlighting the need for courageous journalists willing to take risks and the responsibilities of the journalist’s audience to protect and honor both the journalist and the journalist’s message. The journalist’s audience is responsible for resisting the temptation to engage in the symbolic decapitation of the journalist by ignoring their reports or dismissing them because they bear bad news or confront cherished beliefs. Journalists are responsible for adapting and adjusting their reports to achieve communion with their audience by using all the available means of persuasion. Facts do not speak for themselves.