„Then what could I do to such a poor person?“ – Why and how to teach the work of Anna Politkovskaya to student journalists

Abstract

The article is a methodological case study on teaching students in journalism the work and activities of Anna Politkovskaya. In their analysis, the authors rely on three types of sources (empirical data): (1) texts created by Anna Politkovskaya herself, which are available in Russian- and English-language databases and directories; (2) academic and journalistic works about Politkovskaya's figure and activities; (3) curricula of media schools in higher education institutions in Georgia. These sources are studied by the authors using different methods, but despite the differences in analytical approaches, the main findings for each type of source lead us to the aspects or methodological points within which the study of Politkovskaya's personality and work will be most appropriate. Some of these findings answer the question: why should we teach students about Politkovskaya's work, while another part corresponds to the question: how should we do it? In which courses of the curriculum would it be relevant to teach the journalist's texts? The article concludes that cumulatively these aspects are as follows: (1) the comparison and contrast of political power and the power of speech, i.e., freedom of expression under an autocratic regime; (2) the essence of professional solidarity, its deficit, or complete absence; (3) the personality of the journalist and the professional role model; (4) war journalism through the eyes of a "deeply civilian" person; (5) meanings of verbal and non-verbal codes created by Politkovskaya in her narratives for portraying the interrelations between the perpetrator and the victim. 

Politkovskaya's reports from Chechnya, combined under the title "Second Chechen War," as well as selected essays that are protected in a special directory in the SAGE Index on Censorship 2.0 database, provide sufficient knowledge for students on all five of the above-mentioned points. 

The work of Anna Politkovskaya becomes even more relevant in the context of current events: the very low standard of freedom of speech and expression in Russia, the emigration of individual journalists and entire media organizations from Russia who are unable to cover the war against Ukraine according to professional standards, and most notably, the consistent, unrelenting disappearance of Politkovskaya's work from the Russian media space.