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Politkovskaya Wins Press Freedom Award
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Anna Politkovskaya, a journalist who criticized Vladimir Putin's goverment - and specifically, its prosecution of the war in Chechnya - was posthumously awarded the U.N. World Press Freedom Prize. Posthumously, of course, because she was shot last October, presumably for some completely unrelated reason.
As I've written here before, this is no isolated incident. I hope this award brings the problem into clearer focus, as Russia is now the second most dangerous country in the world for journalists (Iraq is the first).
If you're interested, take a look at the BBC page on this story. The comment thread, just picking up now, is particularly interesting - it features journalists from all over the world discussing press freedom and intimidation in the countries where they live.
-- Scott Paul
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Reader Comments (3) - post a comment
I'm a former journalist and I'm on the TSA watch list for no discernible reason. Actually, I can only guess that I am because no one in *power* will tell me why I am routinely humiliated at the airport without having a criminal record.
Americans need to wake the F up because, as most of us who read this website know, we are not looking at a police state, we are in one.
I say we all start with demanding to know why we are being subjected to extra searchs --tie up those airport lines till everyone gets pissed at the delay, and be extremely vocal about illegal search and seizure by airport personnel when trying to explain what is happening to our fellow passengers.
Our borders are completely open but if one dares take an extra ounce of shampoo in her or his carry-on they get the old strip-search.
With the passage of the Military Commissions Act and the Defense Re-authorization Bill of 2007 we have now really run out of time, or at least have a few months left to stop martial law.
Let's do our best to wake-up our fellow citizens on a daily basis, because really, what we're facing, is a complete destruction of our Bill of Rights with the complicity of both parties.
Someone serious should do her biography.
I think it would reveal vividly where Russia is at these days.
I'm assuming--based on my understanding of her work--they've taken the plunge into authoritarian darkness, while sponsoring an ongoing festering illegal war engulfing innocent civilians every day.
Gee. Reminds of another country, too, come to think of it.
We are experiencing a global rollback in press freedoms, and immunities, it seems.
This is a "bird in the mine" issue. Or perhaps "a frog in the rain forest". It's a barometer/red flag of the attitudes of governments and politicians towards press freedoms. And the lengths they are willing to go to counter them.
Our collective power of the press is being pushed back. And willingly given up, as evidenced in Moyers' recent documentary, another piece of this puzzle.
Again, this is a warning type issue. One that shows there are serious forces at work that portend even greater problems down the road. One every objective, rational person (who appreciates the free flow of information) should be extremely aware of.
Freedoms are easily lost, and not easily gained again.
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