Transcript from the Excellence in International Journalism Awards Dinner
International Center for Journalists
November 9, 2004
Paul Klebnikov was posthumously honored with the Knight International Press Fellowship Award. The award was accepted by Helen Train Klebnikov.
"Thank you. Paul's and my families are deeply honored and inspired by the amazing and brave work of the other journalists tonight.
Paul Klebnikov was a thinker. He would sit on our little terrace in New York and look at the skyline and think. After a while he would come in and hug and kiss the children and be part of ordinary life. He loved the daily routines and work, he was happy to be alive. Yet every day he had to go somewhere in his head or in person.
Why? Maybe because he fell in love with places - he adored Japanese objects and Iran's mosques, he was excited by American steel mills, and raved about France's gothic cathedrals and England autumn, and of course Russia and it's soulful character. He would mull over favorite places and find a story idea, which would lead to inspired reporting.
There were themes he was looking for: dynamic leadership, moral behavior, great design and craft, industriousness and all elements of civil society.
When he was given the opportunity to go from thought to action in Russia he could not resist. He gave Forbes Russia everything - for months he worked insane hours motivated by the hope of making a tangible difference for ordinary Russians. It was everything he had ever contemplated on our little terrace.
Ultimately he gave his life for this mission, but I hope his short life will make other people think too, and be propelled into action when the opportunity arises.
Without journalist what would life be like?"
