“Yuri Schekochikhin personified a really free person… He
raised many journalists, fine personalities and professionals…
Yuri personified the most important traits of modern journalism
and its key advantage – style together with the strength of
the word and commitment. That is why people believed him…
Unfortunately he left us too early. There are different versions
of his death. Free word is frightening for some people and
they make revenge for this without mercy.”
These are quotations from a preface to the book “Yuri Schekochikhin.
Three Epochs of Russian Journalism”. The preface was written
by a legend of Russian journalism, President of the Faculty
of Journalism of the Moscow State University Prof.Yasen Zasursky.
A 370 pages thick book prepared by the Faculty of Journalism
of the Moscow State University (MGU) and published by MGU
contains 50 articles by Yuri Schekochikhin (1950-2003) from
Komsomolskaya Pravda (1970s), Literatunaya Gazeta (1980s and
early 1990s) and Novaya Gazeta (1996-2003).
Yuri
Schekochikhin, member of the YABLOKO party and MP, was
one of the pillars of Russia’s investigative journalism. He
was murdered in 2003.
Yuri Schekochikhin was the winner of the Legend of Russian
Journalism prize. The Journalists’ Union awarded him this
prize post mortem in 2003.
Presentation of the book took place in the Central House
of Journalist (ZDZh) on September 3. The participants of the
event were friends and colleagues of Yuri Schekochikhin: President
of the Faculty of Journalism of the Moscow State University
Yasen Zasursky, Chair of the Journalists’ Union Vsevolod Bogdanov,
President of the Glasnost Foundation Alexei Simonov, journalists
Inna Rudenko, Arkady Vaksberg, Lidia Graftova, Leonid Zhukhovitsky,
Boris Pankin, Dmitry Muratov, Vyacheslav Izmailov, Zoya Yershok,
Nadezhda Azhgikhina, Pavel Gutionov, one of the authors of
the Russian law “On Mass Media” Yuri Baturin, YABLOKO’s founder
and member of Political Committee Grigory Yavlinsky, and Executive
Secretary of YABLOKO’s Political Committee and First Deputy
head of the Moscow branch of the party Galina Mikhalyova.
Photo: Yasen Zasursky and Grigory Yavlinsky
According to Vsyevolod Bogdanov, “Yasen Zasursky made a great
deed by publishing this book.” “The experience of Yuri Schekochikhin
is very important for our journalism, so that it should rise
again,” Zasursky said.
“Yuri was a faery person”, “always full with ideas”, “he
was the first who introduced the term mafia in relation to
our country,” said Arkady Vaksberg. Leonid Zhukhovitsky called
Schekochikhin was “a genius of friendship” who always acted
in a very decent way.
The participants proposed to memorialize Yuri Schekochikhin
either at the Faculty of Journalism in MGU which he graduated
from or in the office of one of the four papers he worked
in.
In view of this YABLOKO’s Galina Mikhalyova reiterated that
Yuri Schekochikhin was elected to the Russian parliament from
YABLOKO two times, she also added that YABLOKO made a special
stand in the Moscow office devoted to Yuri Schekochikhin.
Mikhalyova also noted that “Yuri Schekochikhin was an example
not only for journalists. Today we lack such people in our
politics.”
Photographs by the Press Centre of the House of Journalist
See also:
Investigation
of Yuri Schekochikhin’s death should go on. Statement by the
YABLOKO party. July 3, 2010
Journalist
and YABLOKO member Yuri Schekochikhin would have turned 60
today. Grigory Yavlinsky’s letter to Vsevolod Bogdanov, Chair
of Russia’s Journalists Union. June 9, 2010
Yuri
Schekochikhin
Freedom
of Speech
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