“I report everything I see”
Anna Politkovskaya and press freedom in Russia
The muzzling of independent Russian media, including the newspaper Novaya Gazeta, is part of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decades-long campaign against journalists, the free press, and freedom of expression. In Righting Wrongs, my forthcoming book about human rights heroes, I profile Novaya Gazeta cofounder Anna Politkovskaya, whose work and life remain both an inspiration and a cautionary tale for current times.
I’m not plugging my book here. For International Women’s Day, I wanted to take a moment to remember Politkovskaya and share her important story for the light she continues to shed on current events. Politkovskaya also symbolizes the many, many Russians who have opposed Putin and his violence, some of whom have paid the ultimate price.
If you feel moved by her story or want to do something for the Ukrainian people, please support groups like PEN International, Reporters without Borders, and the International Rescue Committee, which supports ALL refugees.
The daughter of Ukrainian diplomats, Politkovskaya was born in New York in 1958. She had sharp features and a pixie haircut, as if she couldn’t spare a moment for styling. Far from a born reporter, Politkovskaya’s early writing was for the Soviet state airline, where she earned not only a salary, but free…
