World Press Freedom Day, 2007 (click here)
DALE McFEATTERS
SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS SERVICE
Growing dangers for journalists worldwide (click here)
...More than 500 journalists have died in the past decade; last year, 106 journalists and other media workers were killed, the bloodiest year on record. The trend is up, not down. Some of them, such as famed Russian investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya, have been murdered by enemies who fear exposure of their crimes. Such cases are almost never solved....
The New York Times does not stand alone in it's indictment of Russia. Hardly. I thought the title of the first article below was apropos.
The problem with the critics is that they scrutinize communists as people that seek to avoid conflict of authority, when in fact they need to focus on the rolling back of openness, the democratic process and freedom as it would be on a timeline when the Neocons took office in 2001 and especially when they departed the consent of the international community and conducted an illegal war in Iraq in 2003. There is a direct correlation between the closing of the Russian society and how it defines prosecutable descension against the Russian government in a palpable chart of American aggression.
Another front in Putin's war with the West (click here)
The Kremlin meanwhile, benefitting from record oil revenues, stands accused of using its oil and gas as a weapon against its trading partners, while curtailing human rights and political freedoms ahead of presidential elections next year. At least 13 journalists have been murdered in unsolved cases in Russia, including the American journalist who edited Forbes Russia, Paul Klebnikov, and the investigative reporter Anna Politkovskaya. Yelena Tregubova, a 33 year old journalist who wrote a bestseller which displeased the Kremlin, has fled to London to seek asylum rather than become another grim statistic.
Supreme Court Won’t Resume Klebnikov’s Trial (click here)
The Supreme Court of Russia has upheld termination of Paul Klebnikov’s case due to the disappearance of suspect - Kazbek Dukuzov, who is on the wanted list now. Forbes Russia Editor-in-Chief Paul Klebnikov was shot to death in Moscow on July 9, 2004.
The Supreme Court also sustained the absentee arrest of Dukuzov despite the appeal of his lawyer, RIA Novosti reported. Alexander Chernov, who stands for Dukuzov in the trial, said he didn’t know where his client could be. If he appears, “he will be immediately arrested,” Chernov said. Dukuzov could be in one of Russia’s hospitals, supposed the second accused Musa Vakhaev, who attended the trial. Vakhaev pointed out he didn’t keep contact with Dukuzov. Earlier, a lawyer of one of suspects claimed Dukuzov was in some hospital in Chechnya. American citizen of Russia’s descent Paul Klebnikov was the editor-in-chief of Forbes Russia magazine. He was killed in Moscow on July 9, 2004. The detectives say exactly Dukuzov shot the journalist, while Vakhaev drove the killer from the place of the crime. The third suspect is notary public Fail Sadretdinov, who is accused of having arranged the gang.
www.kommersant
There is no doubt there are high crime rates in Moscow. There are also power brokers 'on the loose' similar to the ones the Kennedy White House pursued in the early 1960s. But to simply focus criticism of Russia and communism will be completely self defeating when in fact the impetus to the issues that beset journalists that seek benevolence in Russia began in The Bush White House and not the Putin Presidency.
After all, has the Bush White House ever been open and honest about anything and have they taken up any 'journalist' cases on advocacy when visiting Russia? No. The Bush White House simply looks the other way and chocks it up to better relations when seeking exploitation of Russian oil and gas reserves.
Murdered Russian journalist awarded UN free press prize (click on)
BOGOTA, May 3 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations on Thursday posthumously awarded its free press award to Russian investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya who was killed last October.
The journalist's son Illya Politkovskaya on his mother's behalf received the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) 25,000 dollar Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize 2007 in Colombia's Medellin city.
"I am proud to receive this prize, in Colombia, on behalf of my mother. It is ironic because she should have been here herself, she who wanted to tell only the truth and show the reality in my country," Illya said at the International Free Press Conference.
Politkovskaya was shot dead in Moscow by an unidentified gunman. She was 48 years old.
Editor: Gao Ying
If the community of journalists want advocacy of their collegues that suffer under oppression globally then they need to make that a priority when The State Department negotiates treaties and economic trade. Activism isn't just 'the power of the pen' but also the power of the political document and it's enforcement.
