Over the last week my belief in quality journalism and the free press, rather shaken by recent scandals, has been renewed. Not I might add by any measure taken by the Leveson Enquiry, which began as an exercise in self-flagellation and is now stuck in the rut of an endlessly circular debate. After all, true democracy can only be achieved by having a completely free press, yet the free press can equally undermine democracy through bribery, back-scratching and distortion of the truth in a single-minded pursuit of financial gain. Instead my faith, misplaced though it sometimes may be, has been restored by several reports from overseas by people risking a very great deal, including their lives, in the pursuit of the truth.

Three valiant reporters in particular have caught my eye. The first was the BBC’s Paul Wood, a veteran war reporter who has seen more than his fair share of dangerous situations. This time however I feel he has outdone himself. In an undertaking of great daring he has had himself smuggled into the Syrian city of Homs, which is currently under a relentless assault by the Assad regime. Working with limited equipment deep within Syrian territory, Mr Wood is at a high risk of being hit by wayward munitions, targeted by hostile snipers or captured by regime forces. Yet despite being in probably the most dangerous place on earth right now he has filed regular reports, including video footage, uncovering the brutality of the Syrian government.

The second reporter was Damian Grammaticas, another BBC man, who is based in Beijing. In a wonderful short report and working under conditions where he and his crew were constantly followed, harassed and threatened by security forces Mr Grammaticas uncovered ruthless suppression in Tibet. In the last few months at least 19 Tibetans have self-immolated in protest at the unbearable thought suppression and cultural vandalism carried out by Beijing. This is nothing new – Tibet has suffered from the same treatment for many decades now – but this latest unrest comes at a time when China has just used its power to suppress people fighting for freedom in the Middle-East as well. All of this has happened under a cloud of intense secrecy and propaganda typical of a totalitarian state. These clouds, which obscure the truth and blame scapegoats (terrorists, the West, Israel, the Dalai Lama, take your pick), sadly lead some people in the West to believe that regimes like China, Iran and Syria are not so bad after all.

The third reporter, although I use the term in a broader sense this time, was a young Egyptian lady named Gigi Ibrahim. I came across her twitter account and blog whilst browsing yesterday evening, and was astonished at the quality and level of detail put into her reports. Even more astonishing however was the level of risk she exposes herself too, especially since she is only a civilian with no formal journalistic training. The Mubarak regime may have fallen, but Egypt is far from a stable and safe place. The army and security forces continue to try and keep a tight lid on information coming out of the country and whilst the Muslim brotherhood may have lost its militant edge there are numerous more radical parties and organisations who would no doubt take very serious issue with Ms Ibrahim’s work.

Ms Ibrahim herself may be a radical socialist, a political viewpoint that I disagree with, but it is hard not to admire her nonetheless. She is but one example of a rising global trend in citizen journalism, which has become especially prominent and important in countries where the media is restricted or banned. There are many others out there, some contributing only a few snippets of video footage or the occasional report, others maintaining a more regular presence like Ms Ibrahim, but all taking similar risks in order to expose the truth to the world. The work of citizen journalists should of course not always be taken at face value – despite claims to the contrary their work is just as likely to be distorted or biased as mainstream Western news organisations – but when taken as a whole the information they provide is certainly more valuable and reliable than the propaganda of the state news channels of repressive regimes around the world.

All of these people stand in stark contrast to the pseudo-heroes of internet culture, the most prominent of whom is Julian Assange, who targets only Western governments and organisations whilst safe in the knowledge that he is protected by a full range of laws and human rights. This does not mean that I think Mr Assange is totally without credibility – indeed his assertions that we should seek to challenge what we are told and carefully question government policy are quite correct – however he does not in my opinion deserve the almost moronically messianic adulation he currently enjoys online. He does nothing to discourage this, despite his pronouncements that we should never show blind faith in what we are told, perhaps in the hope that it might improve his chances of getting away with some allegedly rather unpleasant behaviour towards a young lady in Sweden.

Despite all the praise that comes his way Mr Assange has delivered far fewer revelations than many journalists, both professional and civil. The much heralded release of the US diplomatic cables via Wikileaks uncovered almost nothing that wasn’t already known, and in one case it placed many innocent people in considerable danger from terrorist attacks by revealing global civilian facilities (including hospitals, pharmaceutical factories and medical research labs) that Washington considered important. Moreover Mr Assange and others like him only stimulate the unhealthy online culture of conspiracy theories, which are almost always self-perpetuating and often encourage people not to think for themselves but instead to buy blindly into wild theories that frequently serve the interests of tyrannical regimes or terrorist organisations.

Messer’s Wood, Grammaticas, Ibrahim and co are the true heroes of the free press, risking their lives frequently to expose violence, tyranny and oppression in states where the government is highly hostile to their activities. They truly deserve our praise and encouragement. Mr Assange meanwhile undoubtedly has some talent as an investigator, but he should stop hiding behind his messianic status whilst claiming persecution. In my opinion he would do well to take a leaf from the books of those I mention above and instead of releasing irrelevant, commonly known or sometimes needlessly dangerous information to the public (all from behind a PR smokescreen) he should have the balls to try and expose real wrongdoing in places where capture could mean torture or death.