Who says journalists don't care?

Okay, so we're ambulance chasers by nature. Journalists have long had to live down the reputation of callous, nosey, unfeeling, unwashed, down-and-out drunkards. The whole government-pet thing is just the latest spin on an old tradition. And what have we done to deserve this? Yes, we hold notebooks under the noses of grieving widows. Yes, we snap pictures of blood-soaked crime scenes. Yes, we like to get a buzz on at the end of the day. But it's not like we do it for the pay, or job security. A few controversies surrounding one or two or three individuals shouldn't reflect on the industry as a whole. We're humans. And, occasionally, we choose to show it.

Case in point: splashed across today's international news was the murder of Russian human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov in Moscow. Markelov, a pioneer for Chechen rights amidst ongoing hostilities between Chechnya and Russia, was shot in the back of the head after leaving a news conference less than a mile from the Kremlin. He was responsible for putting a Col. Yuri Budanov behind bars for killing a Chechen civilian nine years ago. Here's the rub. Also murdered was Anastasia Baburova, a freelance newspaper journalist in her mid 20s. Baburova attempted to interfere in the shooting on Markelov's behalf, only to have the gun turned on her. She died on the operating table. All this brings to mind the murder of Russian investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya in 2006.

Now that I've expounded, Valkenberg is playing Sean Kelly's tonight at 10. Not sure what we're playing yet, but rest assured it'll be entertaining.