Dmitry Muratov's Nobel Peace Prize win offers hope 'Russian journalism will survive,' says reporter
Muratov is the editor in chief of Novaya Gazeta, which has seen six journalists killed since its founding
If it wasn't for editor in chief —and now Nobel Peace Prize winner — Dmitry Muratov, the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta would have folded a long time ago, said one of paper's investigative reporters.
"He totally deserves this prize," Elena Milashina told As It Happens host Carol Off.
Muratov was jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize along with Maria Ressa, the co-founder and CEO of Rappler, a digital investigative journalism outlet in the Phillippines, for their dedication to protecting freedom of expression.
"Free, independent and fact-based journalism serves to protect against abuse of power, lies and war propaganda," said Berit Reiss-Anderson, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
Mr. Muratov co-founded Novaya Gazeta in 1993 and has long served as the editor. During that time, six of the paper's journalists have been killed, including Anna Politkovskaya, for her work reporting on the conflict in Chechnya.
"It's a recognition of the memory of our fallen colleagues," Muratov said of the honour.
Here is part of Milashina's conversation with Carol Off.
How is Dmitry Muratov, and the rest of your colleagues, how are they reacting to the news?
Well, I think all of us [are] kind of shocked by the news because we didn't expect [it]. For many years, Novaya Gazeta was on the list of [potential winners]. And every year at the same time, people called us and were asking if we're going to ... receive this prize. And while we say ... "Of course, no, because it's just the big prize and we're a small newspaper from Russia."
And this year, nobody called. Because actually everybody was expecting and hoping that Mr. Alexey Navalny, who [is] now in prison, a Russian political opposition leader, would take this prize. So nobody was considering us as the main recipients. But suddenly we got it.
Mr. Muratov said that this wasn't about him, this was about your newspaper and also about all the journalists who have died working on this paper, who have been murdered working on this paper. Can you tell us what it means for Novaya Gazeta?
Dmitry Muratov is one of the very brilliant and noble Russian persons who deserve[s] that the world knows him and applaud him. And, of course, all people that work with Novaya Gazeta also did a lot. But without Muratov, we wouldn't be able to do this, and I think without Muratov, Novaya Gazeta would be closed many years ago.
Today this recognition of his great impact on Russian media, on Russian freedom of speech is recognized, and I'm very, very happy about it.
As you mentioned, this is something that's very much under attack in Russia, the independent media, free speech, and this kind of journalism that Novaya Gazeta does. What message does this send to Russia that the Nobel committee has given this award to Novaya Gazeta?
That the situation with freedom of speech is really bad in Russia and is getting worse from year to year. And I actually don't remember the times when Russian journalists were protected by the government.
When actually I ended up [finishing] school, the very famous journalist Vladislav Listyev, when [Boris] Yeltsin was president, was killed and his murder wasn't investigated until now. And this tradition, real Russian tradition, started from back then and now is getting worse and worse. When a Russian journalist is named as enemies of state, they name their supporting agents for doing their job.
For Russian journalists, probably it's kind of a little hope that things might change or Russian journalism will survive. I don't know. Russian government is very unpredictable.
We got a little hint as to how the Russian government of Vladimir Putin feels about this award, because within hours of the announcement from the Nobel Committee, you had another news organization, Bellingcat and nine journalists, including one from the BBC, also now declared as foreign agents ... meaning that they're under scrutiny and they must file detailed reports and could face deportation at any time. So what kind of message do you think that Russia's justice ministry is sending with that?
I think they were just doing the job they [were] ordered to do. To put on those lists all the independent Russian journalists and foreign journalists and the NGO people, human rights defenders.
And among those people, another person, a very close friend of mine and of Novaya Gazeta and of many other Russian newspapers and the media, Galina Arapova, a human rights defender, a media defender.
She protected the other journalist[s] of Novaya Gazeta and many other Russian journalists. She is our defender and she got on this list today. It's a terrible news for me personally, for many other Russian journalists personally, because, well, they managed to spoil this day, the joy of this day by those news and actions.
His great impact on Russian media, on Russian freedom of speech is recognized, and I'm very, very happy about it.- Journalist Elena Milashina
Do you think they did so deliberately? This is the message they wanted to send to all of you?
No, I think they got this list before, and they didn't expect that kind of news that Mr. Muratov will receive [the] Nobel Prize.
Do you think that this award, getting the Nobel Prize puts you in more danger?
No, I think that the level of danger is ... the same very high level as it was before. Maybe it will protect Novaya Gazeta because it's kind of weird to put it on the list of foreign agents, the newspaper whose editor is [a] Nobel Prize awardee, but Russian government is [capable] of everything. So I just don't know.
Dmitry Muratov mentioned in his statements the six journalists for Novaya Gazeta, who have been murdered because of doing their work. And we have spoken to you in the past about just how threatening it is, how scary it can be to do what you do. Why do you and the others keep going knowing how dangerous it is for you?
We are journalists. I personally ... chose this profession.
I have an opportunity to tell people the truth. I think the other way ... it means that you will not have the life you chose. You will have the life that ... will let somebody do the choice for you, instead of you, and put pressure on you. It's not the life, actually. It's just a miserable thing. And a lot of my colleagues and me personally [do] not agree with this. We are the people who just decide ourselves and we take the risks and we continue our work.
Written by Andrea Bellemare with files from The Associated Press. Produced by Kevin Robertson. This Q&A has been edited and condensed.
