: ‘We’re At War.’ Nobel Peace Prize Winner Dmitry Muratov on the Fight for the Free Press in Russia #WorldNEWS Few institutions have sacrificed more for the cause of free expression than Novaya

‘We’re At War.’ Nobel Peace Prize Winner Dmitry Muratov on the Fight for the Free Press in Russia #WorldNEWS
Few institutions have sacrificed more for the cause of free expression than Novaya Gazeta, one of Russia’s last independent newspapers. Since President Vladimir Putin came to power in 2000, six of the paper’s reporters have been killed. One was bludgeoned to death. Another died of suspected poisoning. A third, Anna Politkovskaya, was shot five times in her apartment building in 2006.
The paper’s editor, Dmitry Muratov, had them all in mind when he learned in October that he had won this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, which he plans to dedicate to their memory during the awards ceremony on Dec. 10. In its announcement, the Nobel Committee said it had awarded the prize jointly to Muratov and his colleague in the Philippines, Maria Ressa, editor of Rappler, “for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace.
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Before traveling to Oslo to accept the award this week, Muratov made a trip to New York City to support another one of his colleagues, Natalia Sindeeva, the founder of Russia’s last independent news network, TV Rain, whose own struggle with censorship is featured in a forthcoming documentary. After the screening of the film, Muratov and Sindeeva sat down with TIME to discuss the power of the Nobel Prize and what it means for the future of journalism in Russia and beyond.
What follows is a transcript of the conversation, which took place on Nov. 19. It has been translated from Russian and edited for clarity by TIME.
This is your first trip abroad since you learned about the Nobel Committee’s decision. What brings you to New York?
Muratov: I made the trip to support two of my colleagues and friends. Their documentary film was just shown in the U. S. for the first time. It’s about TV Rain, the last independent television channel in Russia. The filmmaker, Vera Krichevskaya, invited me, and I wanted to come and show my support for her and for the founder of TV Rain, Natalia Sindeeva.
That’s a good sign for the solidarity among Russian journalists. Have you stopped seeing each other as competitors?
Sindeeva: I don’t see anyone as a competitor. We’re all in the same boat.
Even with the state-run media?
Sindeeva: Yes, even state-run media. They’re not all jerks. They’re people, too. We can’t see the world in black and white. We need to unite. And we have. Part of it was the state’s move to start designating journalists as “foreign agents. ” When that started happening, we held a pledge drive to support the targets of that law, and 50 different media outlets took part, big and small.