So many things wrong with this....
First, why should they need protection?
Because criminals are threatening them.
That's the key - criminals. When people receive police protection in the U.S., we protect them from criminals. When people go into the Witness Protection Program, they are being protected from criminals. When Federal marshals escorted the black children into white schools in the 50s, they were protecting them from criminals, not from white people.
Secondly, only "high profile journalists" need (or deserve) protection? Or the freedom to speak?
No, anybody who the government thinks is under more-than-ordinary threat deserves protection.
Thirdly, if you think the powers that be will protect you, you got another think coming.
Inconsistent with your very next statement.
Fourth, the offices in Paris were "protected". The unfortunate officer on duty was the first to die.
That is unfortunate. The fact that the protection was inadequate in this case, however, is not a very good argument against protection.