At What Price

"People sometimes pay with their lives for saying aloud what they think. In fact, one can even get killed for giving me information. I am not the only one in danger. I have examples that prove it"
Anna Politkovskaya

Earlier today, the funeral for Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya was held. According to ABC News, Politkovskaya "was fatally shot in her apartment building Saturday in an apparent contract killing. Her death threw a new spotlight on the risks faced by journalists who criticize the Russian authorities and dig deep to expose abuses."

Here is an overview from ABC News.

Politkovskaya was a named in TimeEurope's list of Heroes in 2003.

Politkovskaya was a Russian journalist who opposed the Putin administration in her country (often reffered to as the Putin "regime"). She wrote numerous articles about the Chechan conflict and the atrocities that befell the people of Chechnya.

Her fearlessness and empathy towards Chechnya made her a candidate to negotiate hostage situations. In 2002, Chechan rebels took a Moscow theatre hostage. Politkovskaya was brought in to help negotiate. She was also summoned to negotiate during the Beslan School hostage situation (When terrorists took hostages at a Beslan shool for three days, leaving over three hundred people dead, nearly 200 of them were children), however she never made it to the school becuase she fell very ill.

For those of us entering the journalism field, especially investigative journalism, this kind of event can be jarring. What price are we willing to pay for the truth? Would we risk our lives for a cause that we believed in?

Because we live in the U.S., our fears are (somewhat) put to rest. As Americans, we are free to write and investigate until the cows come home (sort of).

After reading about Politovaskaya, I began to think about the number of journalists whoe have faced danger or death for the truth, people like Daniel Pearl and Veronica Guerin.

Please check out The Comittee to Protect Journalists.

I was shocked at the number of journalists who have died, been wounded, or gone missing, even in just the years since after September 11th.