UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — An award-winning Russian author, documentary filmmaker and independent journalist will present a free public lecture and participate in a question-and-answer session scheduled at 2:30 p.m. Feb. 25 on Penn State’s University Park campus.
Katerina Gordeeva will present “Speaking to the Wounded: Ethics and Methodology of Trauma Journalism in Situations of Loss and Conflict” in Foster Auditorium of Paterno Library.
Gordeeva is known for her fearless reporting and in-depth human stories. Over the past two decades she has become one of Russia’s most respected independent voices, producing documentaries that explore historical memory, the human cost of political repression and social justice. Her work has been widely recognized for its emotional depth and journalistic integrity — earning accolades in Russia and internationally.
Gordeeva, whose work earned the 2024 Anna Politkovkskaya Prize, which recognizes the work of journalists committed to pursuing their essential mission of providing information in crisis situations, has often focused on the people impacted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Half of her family lived in Kyiv when the war started.
She said she has worked to collect the voices of people on the ground impacted by the war so that an independent historical record of the conflict will exist.
Before producing her first documentary and embarking on her independent journalism efforts, Gordeeva worked for almost a decade in television — including as a correspondent for Russia’s NTV “Today” and before that Russia’s TVS TV channel. She also was a parliamentary correspondent for the Russian Service of the BBC.
Gordeeva’s passion for truth-telling, though, drove her career change, she said, and the ongoing war has provided an all-too-fertile ground for her to find people and share stories.
Her visit to Penn State is sponsored by the Department of German and Slavic Languages and Literatures, the McCourtney Institute for Democracy, the Center for Democratic Deliberation, the Department of Communications Arts and Sciences, and the Department of Journalism.