DANIEL PEARL AWARD for courage and integrity in journalism

Remembering Anna Politkovskaya

BY WENDY lAIN RUSSIAN investigative journalist that won her the trust of Chechen rebels. The HUGHES Anna Politkovskaya, whose bravery has Moscow bi-weekly Novaya Gazeta published her inspired journalists around the world, reports on the complicated relationship between is the sixth recipient of the Los Angeles Russia and Chechnya—a confict over religion, SPress Club’s Daniel Pearl Award. natural resources and more than a century of bru- Receiving the posthumous award in her honor tality against the Chechen people. at the 49th Annual Southern California Journalism She was found shot to death in the elevator of Awards is Sergei Sokolov, Deputy Editor of Novaya her Moscow apartment building late last year. Six 16 Gazeta, Politkovskaya’s newspaper at the time of months after her death, in an April 2007 update 17 her death. of the story of her death frst reported in October The Pearl Award is named after Daniel Pearl, 2006, the international organization Reporters the Wall Street Journal reporter who was mur- Without Borders has expressed frustration at a dered in 2002 by terrorists in Pakistan. Polit- stall in the investigation. Reporters Without Bor- ders said: “If the authorities fail to produce con- crete and conclusive evidence, the creation of an and maternity hospital in the Chechen capital of the head, in an elevator in her apartment build- international commission of enquiry or a Russian Grozny. She was arrested and held prisoner by ing in Moscow. A neighbor found her body at fve parliamentary commission of enquiry could prove the FSB, formerly the KGB, for three days in 2000 o’clock p.m., and Moscow police have opened an necessary.” without food and water. investigation. Investigators suspect that the killing Politkovskaya was born in New York but edu- In 2004, on a fight from the United States to will be linked to her work. She was about to fle a cated in Russia. Because her parents were diplo- help mediate a hostage crisis in Beslan, she lost story on torture in Chechnya—her computer was mats, she had access to books normally unavail- consciousness after drinking poison-laced tea. confscated by police. able to Soviet students. She wrote for Izvestiya She once fed to Austria to avoid an assassination In Russia, journalism is a high-risk trade. The and then for an in-house publication of the state attempt. international Committee to Protect Journalists airline, Aerofot. Because of this experience, she Anna Politkovskaya was fnally silenced at age lists 29 journalists killed in Russia between 1995 was able to travel and thereby develop a perspec- 48 by two (some reports say four) bullets, one to and 2004. tive on the vast nation that spanned eleven time “There are journalists who have this fate hang- zones. ing over them. I always thought something would Under perestroika, publishers such as Novaya happen to Anya, frst of all because of Chechnya,” Gazeta (“new newspaper”) were able to openly said Oleg Paniflov, director of the Moscow-based publish stories explaining the conficts that were Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations in a taking place in the Russian population. Polit- Pravda report on Politkovskaya’s death last year. kovskaya fled detailed reports of the rapes, kid- UCLA instructor Marina Goldovskaya concurs, nappings, torture and disappearances taking place “She was my student at Moscow University in the under Russian President Putin, and the Chechen mid-1970s, and we stayed in touch. She was the Anna Politikovskaya kovskaya was chosen in consultation with the government installed in 1999. brightest, smartest, most beautiful and charm- was called Anya by her Pearl family. She survived poisoning and imprisonment ing woman,” recalls the journalism instructor. “I friends. Known to her friends as Anya, Politkovskaya and the loss of her marriage, all related to her warned her that what she was doing was danger- wrote about human rights and political contro- writing career. In 1999, the mother of two re- ous. She told me ‘I am a journalist. I have to do versies with courageous impartiality, a trademark ported on a Russian rocket attack on a market what I have to do.’” LAPressclub-full 8.5x11 6/7/07 4:36 PM Page 1

DANIEL PEARL AWARD ANNA POLITKOVSKAYA The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles

SERGEI SOKOLOV investigations have taken him to many fash points including congratulates its finalists in the 2007 ergei Sokolov is the deputy ed- Chechnya, Afghanistan and Tajikistan. itor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta, Los Angeles Press Club Southern California Swhich means “New Newspaper” MARINA GOLDOVSKAYA in Russian. The paper, which is highly critical of the Russian government, arina Goldovskaya is one of was set up by former Soviet Presi- Russia’s best-known docu- Journalism Awards. dent Mikhail Gorbachev in 1993 with Mmentary flmmakers with a money from the Nobel Prize he won strong international following. She in 1990. has made 35 flms, many of which Born August 26, 1967, Sokolov received top prizes (Prix Europa, COLUMNIST fnished school in 1984 where he Golden Gate Award, Golden Hugo, studied the Chinese language. He Joris Ivens Award, Silver Rembrandt, Amy Klein became a student of Russian Peoples and many others) at various Interna- Friendship University the following year and graduated in 1992 tional Film Festivals. During her long with an international journalism degree. From 1983 worked career she has written, directed, pro- for Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper as a journalist. Sokolov duced and flmed documentaries for served as the correspondent of the youth afairs section of the Russian, Austrian, French, German, EDITORIALS paper from 1988 through 1993 where the main topics were and U.S. Television. In 2006 she received a Lifetime Achieve- psychology, education, teenagers’ crimes, homeless children, ment Award for the Art of Documenting History presented by Rob Eshman, “And Who Shall Die” children without families, and the efect of war on youth. In the Russian Association of Non-Fiction Film and TV. For 25 years 1993, he was promoted to deputy editor of the section, then Marina has taught documentary flm and cinematography at editor of the investigations section, and now deputy edi- Moscow State University, where Anna Politkovskaya was one tor-in-chief. of her students. Presently she is running the Documentary pro- ENTERTAINMENT REVIEWS/CRITICISM/COLUMN Sokolov is the author of investigations about the activity of gram at the UCLA Film School. Her latest book “A Woman with Russian oil companies, crime in business and politics, children’s a Movie Camera: My life as a Russian Filmmaker” was published Gina Nahai, “Rushdie’s ‘Clown’ No Laughing Matter” 18 prostitution and numerous other controversial topics. These in 2006 by Texas University Press. Tom Teicholz, “Walk Like a Rock Star Mom”

DESIGN Dan Kacvinski and Carvin Knowles, “Jews in Space” Carvin Knowles, ”Passover 5766 The 10 Plagues”

EDITORIAL CARTOON Steve Greenberg, “Iran's Nuclear Ambition” Jake Novak and Michael Ciccotello, “The Misadventures of a Hollywood Studio Executive”

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