I apologize. I saw this and I just had to write. This will be more of a rant and I welcome any other thoughts.
Forbes Russia Editor Murdered Paul Klebnikov, a longtime staff editor with
Forbes magazine, and the editor of the new
Forbes: Russia magazine was gunned down in cold blood on July 9th. While it is not known why the husband and father of three was murdered as a possible mob target, almost everybody is looking towrds his work.
Klebnikov had recently published the top 100 richest men in Russia. A list that brings an unappreciated spotlight of many of Russia's economic elite. In the past, Klebnikov has also done work on the Russian mob and the ties between Russian corporations and the government. The murder of a journalist covering such topics is disturbing enough. What's even more disturbing is that... he's part of a long list of journalists murdered in Russia.
Scores of journalists, even one found dead today, (
Paper Editor Stabbed to Death) have been murdered since the fal of the Iron Curtain. Some sources claim as many as 200. Almost all are unsolved and with those that are, the criminals go unpunished.
Russian Editorial on Journalist's Deaths All this in the middle of what appears to be a crackdown on the media...
(from the MSNBC link)
QUOTE
While there's no suggestion of any official involvement in Klebnikov's death, it comes during a press crackdown in Russia.
At NTV, a formerly independent network, management loyal to the Kremlin canceled the country's last political talk show just hours before Klebnikov's death. Hosted by Savik Shuster, the program, "Freedom of Speech," saw its ratings surge during lively debate — apparently too much of it for the authorities.
"It's not a good time to be a journalist," said Leonid Parfyonov, another NTV host whose show was taken off the air for broadcasting an interview with the widow of a former rebel leader in Chechnya, the breakaway Russian republic.
Parfyonov, whose show garnered top ratings, said he "knew it was coming." Another former NTV journalist, Yevgeny Kiselyov, once Russia's most respected and outspoken TV anchor, said the Kremlin acts like an executive producer.
"Very often the Kremlin calls the editors of this or that channel. And then they relay their advice. It's always in the form of insistent advice," Kiselyov said.
My first bit of the rant will be simple.
To anyone who thinks that civil liberties are being snatched from us... look to Russia, and tell me if you don't fell a litlle more better about the freedom to say what you want without being murdered or pressured/forced off the air.
Second, obviously, this has gotten little if any attention. I think this has to garner world attention. These are people whose job is to seek the facts and it appears, more often than not, that they are getting the truth. and dying for it. The more pressure that the international community can put on these crimes, the safer it will be for journalists from around the globe to be able to report the facts.
I apologize if this appears half-brained but, it's almost half past seven in the morning and I am just completely appalled at the idea that fact seeking men and women can still be silenced in nations that claim to be free all the while people here complain about their rights to free speech being trampled. Let's focus on real problems.