Remembering A Slain Journalist
Anna Politkovskaya, the Russian journalist shot to death over the weekend,was the first recipient of the OPC/CBS News Artyam Borovik Award. This is an award for journalists, who in the spirit of Borovik, report on what is happening in Russia, even when the Russian government does not want these stories reported. Anna, who reported on Chechnya incurring the wrath of the Putin government, paid for her reporting with death.
Years ago, when she had come to New York to accept the CBS/Borovik award I took her to dinner. She spoke little English and I, no Russian, and yet we had a wonderful time visiting, listening to her passionate commitment to the stories she reported. She had been born in New York City, the daughter of a Soviet diplomat at the UN and we arranged a special visit for her at the UN. She came back from that starry-eyed and very grateful. She came to lunch at the CBS Executive Dining room where she shared with us some of her acts of courage which she just thought was reporting.
I remember on a return visit to New York, Anna told me about her most recent Chechen adventures. Anna, who in real life was very stylish and au courant, used to walk over the border into Chechnya wearing old clothes and looking like a native. She had a circle of protectors there and would sleep each night in a different house. She said she wasn't afraid because she was telling their story. Each time I saw pictures of her on TV—like when the Chechens took over the Moscow theatre and she served as an intermediary, I would feel my heart in my throat. But she had won so many awards and was so established overseas that I think she—and many of us who knew her—felt she was invulnerable.
Sadly for all of us, that was not the case.