Crickets for Politkovskaya

Russia Today's top headline reads: Skull and Bones sued over Indian chief's remains.  Since the redesign (which eerily reminds me of the TV game show, Hollywood Squares), only one top news story is displayed at a time.  After a ten to twenty second freeze frame* on the riveting Skull and Bones piece, a photo of Anna Politkovskaya graces the screen with the caption, "The Manhunt for Red October Continues."  The editorial decision made by RT to elevate the coverage of a lawsuit about Geronimo's remains over one of the most pressing stories concerning the future of free speech in Russia is inexcusable.

Here is some background.  Journalist Anna Politkovskaya was murdered at her home on October 7th, 2007.  Known for unabashed coverage of the human rights violations in Chechnya by Russian soldiers, Anna Politkovskaya was named by the New Statesman as one of the fifty heroes of our time.  What made her heroic also made her a target.  Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Anne Applebaum described  Politkovskaya's murder,

There was no attempt to disguise the murder as a theft or an accident: Her assassin not only shot her in broad daylight, but he left her body in the elevator of her apartment building alongside the gun he used to kill her -- standard practice for Moscow's arrogant hit men. Nor can her murder be easily attributed to distant provincial authorities or the criminal mafia: Local businessmen had no motivation to kill her -- but officials of the army, the police and even the Kremlin did. Whereas local thieves might have tried to cover their tracks, Politkovskaya's assassin, like so many Russian assassins, did not seem to fear the law.

Recently, three men were acquitted for being accomplices in her murder.  From the start of the trial, many court watchers called into doubt the guilt of these suspects as her murderer has yet to be named or caught by Russian authorities.  How did RT cover this trial that further serves to delay action and sustain a potential cover-up?  Here's how,

If justice was awarded for courage alone, Anna Politkovskaya, the late journalist who seemed most comfortable reporting from an exploding battlefield, would have been vindicated long ago. 

What a backhanded compliment!  It gets better.  The article then describes her work in Chechnya,

Known best for her relentless coverage of the atrocities of the Chechen war from both sides of the trenches, Politkovskaya did not limit herself to war correspondent. On the evening of October 23, 2002, about 45 Chechen terrorists seized the House of Culture Theater in central Moscow with 850 hostages inside. The perimeter of the theater was rigged with explosives and the terrorists clearly had no intention of leaving alive. Anna Politkovskaya was one of the few people permitted inside of the building in an attempt to negotiate with the terrorists. Although the talks were essentially fruitless (after a dramatic two-and-a-half day waiting game of cat and mouse, Russian Special Forces finally stormed the building, rescuing 721 of the 850 hostages and eliminating the terrorists), Politkovskaya proved her mettle by voluntarily exposing herself to the gravest danger in an effort to save human lives.

This is a gross misrepresentation of her life's work.  Politkovskaya was one of the most visible Russians speaking out against Putin and the acts perpetrated by Russian forces.  Portraying her as a terrorist negotiator is an insulting attempt to offer an olive branch to those who respected her sacrifice.

RT would not want to glorify her too much, so this section is followed by,

In many ways, Politkovskaya’s desperate talks with the theater terrorists showed her star shooting full circle. From something of a human rights vigilante with a pen that scribbled like a sword (sometimes a bit too haphazardly, however, as her many critics would counter) . . .

Of course it would be too much effort for RT to identify a SINGLE CRITIC of hers.  Rather, it is better to disparage her memory anonymously, so as to not offend her family.  The article concludes by attributing her murder to organized crime and vindicating Putin from having any role in her execution.

I've read that it is a mistake to blog when angry.  I'll heed that advice now.

*Sometimes RT switches to the Politkovskaya story second, sometimes third after an article entitled, "Ukraine Defense Minister: We are going down".