The Risks Of Reporting

Thursday, October 12 2006 | Send to a friend

The Risks Of Reporting

Anna Politkovskaya

Anna Politkovskaya, a controversial and well-known Russian journalist, was murdered at her home in Moscow on Saturday, October 7.  Known internationally for her reports in Chechnya, Anna is the twenty-third Russian journalists killed between 1996 and 2005. Many of the murders, like Politikovskaya's, have the hallmarks of contract-style killings.

Andrey Mironov has been journalist in Russia since the 1980s.  He knew Politkovskaya well, and has himself been imprisoned by the Russian government for his own work there. He talks to Dick about his friend, and reflects on what her death means for democracy in Russia.

• Find out more about the risks of reporting in Russia and read some of Anna's reports. 
• Read an excerpt from Anna's report on the Moscow Theater takeover by Chechen rebels.
  

YOUR STORY - BECCA GILLESPIE

Becca waves

Kay Gillespie was listening to a story we did on two American doctors who now work in Guatemala. Kay wrote to tell us about her own daughter's decision to spend time in Guatemala. Here's what Kay wrote.

Becca was climbing the corporate ladder at Home Depot.  She thought that learning Spanish would help her on the climb. So she spent a year in Guatemala in a farming area called Cantel.  Her host family had a daughter, Frances.  And it was with her, that Becca had a life-altering experience… at the most unlikely place: the dentist's…

- Kay Gillespie in a letter to The Story

Dick talks with Becca today.