Tuesday, September 27

Anna Politkovskaya talks about risks that journalists face and freedom of speech

Next October, 7 will be Anna Politkovskaya death's anniversary. In October,7 2006 Anna was shot when entering the elevator of the building of her apartment. There is a good article "The heinous execution of Anna Politkovskaya" by St. James that also tells a little about her biography. I will write more posts about her till October, 7 as a tribute to such a great woman. Journalists of the mainstream media do not have this problem since they are working for the corporations that are ruling the world and forgot about ethics, integrity and what journalism is as this example shows. But for those who are committed to inform people and give analysis of what is happening they face death threats everywhere in the world and the number of those who were killed is high, killed for doing their work. We just saw what happened to some of them in Libya. America has to fight for the first amendment because what is happening in US is similar to what happens in totalitarian states.
"This is what I think about it: risk by definition is part and parcel of our profession."
"We live now in an era where normal values have been displaced. The good is called bad, the bad - good. I no longer think that we have freedom of speech in the sense that we had in the Yeltsin years. Our right to receive and distribute information is rationed."
Anna Politkovskaya