Two Russian journalists from Islamic TV where shot Tuesday August 26 2008. One, of the two men, Telman Alishaev, was killed and the other escaped with a skull fracture. The following day as Alishaev lay dying in his hospital bed, Newspaper Journalist Miloslav Bitokov was assaulted outside his home in the city of Nalchik. The following Sunday after the initial two shootings another journalist was shot and killed this time by Police. There are currently no suspects known by name to be involved in the initial shootings, however the Moscow News reports that police somehow know that there where two men suspected to be involved. Alishaev had hosted a religious TV show in the Republic of Dagestan in Russia’s Northern Caucuses. The Northern Caucuses is a region known for political violence and discord, it contain, the republics of Chechnya and North and South Ossetia among others. North and South Ossetia were in the news more recently due to the conflict between Russia and Georgia in August. Colleagues, friends, and family of the victims suspected that they where targeted because of their vocation, Journalism. Bitokov in particular was known to be critical of the local authorities.
The importance of such an article cannot be understated in a blog in which we are discussing freedom of the press in various countries. Though this article was published at the beginning of the month it is still a recent reminder of the dangers facing agents of the press in Russia. The Moscow New's time line of events present in the article seemed slightly obscured within the main body of the article. A cynical observer may suspect that this disorganization was an attempt to diffuse any retribution which would result from the publication or investigating of such stories. Briefly at the end of the article the writer, Rostov-On-Don, makes mention of the ever present example of such retribution, the murder of Investigative Journalist Anna Politkovskaya.
Students and Faculty of COMM 419 will be studying and monitoring different media systems around the world and posting their observations, analyses, and commentaries on this blog.
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