Electoral Fraud and Violence Against Journalists

> I didn’t, but I explained I was a journalist for [The Independent](http://www.independent.co.uk/ "The Independent") looking to speak to a man at an address in the area, who was standing as a candidate in the local elections, about allegations of postal vote fraud. “Can we see your note pad,” the boy asked. > > I declined and then the first punch came – landing straight on my nose, sending blood and tears streaming down my face. Then another. Then another.

An Independent journalist, investigating electoral fraud, is beaten up in the pursuit of a story. As Brian Micklethwait, a blogger whose work I have long enjoyed, puts it on Samizdata, a libertarian blog:

> Isn’t trying to learn the truth about things, sometimes naively and foolishly, going where people who already know it all are too wise to venture, what journalism is all about?

*Yes*. And that’s why I think this might be a more important story than many that have washed over the media in this election campaign.