ROCHESTER, N.H. (NEWS CENTER Maine) — Everyone has a story no matter how small or big, heartbreaking or triumphant. Late journalist James Foley understood this well and made it his life’s mission to share the stories no one else wanted to tell, to advocate for the underdog.
Foley grew up in the quiet New Hampshire town of Wolfeboro, but his work as a freelance journalist would entrench him into the most dangerous countries in the world. Foley reported in Afghanistan and then Libya where he was held hostage for six weeks by Muammar Gaddafi's regime, but was eventually released in 2011.
In October 2012. Foley was covering the Syrian civil war when he was kidnaped in northern Syria. For 10 months Foley was held hostage before becoming the first U.S. hostage to be killed by the Islamic State in a violent beheading that surfaced on YouTube on Aug. 19, 2014.
James Foley's mission continues
Diane Foley is Jim’s mother.
She has an infectious smile and as she speaks it is hard to believe that the former nurse practitioner from Rochester, New Hampshire has become part of such a large international story. Her life's work is now dedicated to protecting journalists and advocating for the free press.
“Jim was just a regular guy,” Diane remembers of her eldest child. The 40-year-old was fun-loving and deeply interested in people’s stories according to his mother. But Diane says Jim had a serious side that she did not fully appreciate until after he was gone.
“He was a man who really thought a lot about what was the right thing to do. And he aspired to be a man of moral courage. Which I had no idea...I just knew I loved him.”
Diane says even in death her son challenges her.
Within in a month of Jim’s murder, Diane founded the James W. Foley Foundation which advocates for Americans who are unjustly detained, spreads awareness about the importance of the free press, and in particular, the work conflict journalists do and teaches journalists how to be safe.
On Saturday, October 20, more than 1000 runners are expected to participate in the fourth Annual James W. Foley Freedom 5K Run, along with hundreds of runners who will participate around the world.
“It is a day to not just to remember Jim but the many who have died to protect our freedom,” Diane says Jim wouldn’t want to the day to be all about him.
People like Jamal Khashoggi, whose recent disappearance and alleged brutal death by his own countrymen, has made headlines across the world. Khashoggi, a well respected Saudi Arabian journalist, and most recently columnist for the Washington Post, has not been seen since he entered the Saudi consulate in Turkey on Oct. 2. Turkish officials have said they believe Khashoggi was tortured and then dismembered by 15 Saudi men who arrived in Turkey and left the same day of Khashoggi’s disappearance.
“I admire Jamal and I have the deepest condolences for his loved ones,” Diane says.
The parallels between Khashoggi’s presumed brutal death and Foley’s are not lost on Diane who is urging citizens to express their outrage and demand someone be held responsible.
“Journalists are being targeted in our own country. There is a desire to silence voices that do not agree with us and we need to hear those voices so we can be an informed citizen.”
While Diane commends the Trump administration for bringing home Americans who have been detained abroad she’s concerned about the increased criticism of the press by the President.
Like most things, Diane tries to see the silver lining saying she thinks attacks on the press is helping “wake-up” Americans and make them pay more attention to what is actually being reported.
“Whenever a journalist is targeted it challenges me to want to do more,” and Diane has no plans to stop. She is headed to Munich in the coming weeks, invited to participate in a forum to increase safety for journalists on the front lines.
And Diane realizes that while the stories of Jamal Khashoggi and her own son’s, James Foley, have ended before they should have finished, they have emboldened her to pen a new chapter for herself as an advocate for the silent voices and those who tell their stories.
On Saturday morning, friends, family and those who never met Jim will meet at the Spaulding High School in Rochester to celebrate her son. Doors open at 8 a.m., the race starts at 10 a.m. and participants can register the same day.
“(Jim) challenges me to keep that legacy going, to keep trying to inspire the next generation and to listen to the person that no one wants to listen to.”