Gershkovich’s release in a prison swap that involved the United States, Russia, Germany and four other countries marked the culmination of a relentless, 16-month campaign launched by the Journal alongside his family and friends that encompassed hashtags, billboards, celebrity advocates, letter-writing campaigns and closed-door meetings with high-level government officials.
It began the moment newsroom leaders realized their reporter had gone missing while on assignment in the Ural Mountains.
It was March 29, 2023, when colleagues who kept regular tabs on Gershkovich realized they had not heard from him in hours and did not know where he was, according to reporting by the Journal.
An unsubstantiated message posted on Russian messaging service Telegram reported that security agents had removed a person from a restaurant in Yekaterinburg, near where Gershkovich was expected to travel. After the reporter missed two check-ins with the company’s security team, editor in chief Emma Tucker called then-Washington bureau chief Paul Beckett. He reached out to high-level Biden administration officials, according to an account published by Time, and within hours, Secretary of State Antony Blinken was on the phone promising support.
On March 30, Russia’s Federal Security Service announced it had arrested Gershkovich on charges of spying for the United States.
That “was the beginning of a truly nightmare scenario,” Almar Latour, Journal publisher and CEO of parent company Dow Jones recounted in a recent speech. The charges — which Gershkovich’s bosses said were entirely unfounded and false — carried serious consequences. Beckett pushed his contacts to get the White House to publicly disavow the spying accusation. Tucker began speaking to the media.
“Someone along the way gave us the advice that ‘there are moments to be loud and moments to be quiet, and this is a moment to be loud,’” Beckett told Time. “That became a bit of a mantra.”
The days turned into weeks and months. Dow Jones and the Journal launched a multifaceted strategy — some of it playing out via social media, some of it behind closed doors with foreign officials and dignitaries — to get the reporter released. And the company never relented, taking every opportunity to inject Gershkovich’s case into the public forum.
Journal leaders depicted his arrest as an assault on press freedom, a cause that easily won bipartisan support and backing from rival news organizations and journalists.
Dow Jones helped Gershkovich’s family navigate the demands of public advocacy. Friends and newsroom colleagues spoke out publicly about the reporter as well, sharing personal stories to help humanize him. Some helped with an effort to send letters from well-wishers around the world to Gershkovich so he could feel the groundswell of support for him.
The Journal promoted the #IStandWithEvan hashtag, and journalists from a variety of rival news organizations changed their social media photos to a badge that reads “Free Evan Now.” Prominent broadcasters, such as CNN’s Jake Tapper and MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell, took up the cause. The Journal newsroom held a 24-hour read-a-thon, where colleagues and friends read his stories out loud. Supporters organized “Swim for Evan” events — cold plunges at beaches around the world, including the chilly waters off Brooklyn where Gershkovich swam during visits to his grandmother.
On the first anniversary of his arrest, the Journal’s front page carried an large, empty spot with the headline “His story should be here.” It was part of a “Missing Articles” campaign, with empty spaces throughout the print paper and online, to represent the articles that Gershkovich was prevented from writing.
In May, for World Press Freedom Day, the New York Times and Washington Post joined the Journal in running a joint ad that called attention to detained journalists — highlighting Gershkovich as well as Post contributor Austin Tice, who was kidnapped in Syria in 2012 and remains missing.
Gershkovich’s birthday, the 100th day of his detention and other milestones became occasions to keep up the drumbeat. Tucker, Latour and Gershkovich’s family routinely issued statements through Dow Jones, denouncing his trial as “a sham,” and urging “the U.S. government to continue to do everything possible to bring Evan home now.”
And the Journal made a point of reporting on every development in Gershkovich’s case as it wound through Russian bureaucracy and devoted a webpage dedicated to the latest news.
In a letter to readers this summer, Tucker acknowledged the challenges of “how to report responsibly” on the Russian judicial proceedings without lending them a false aura of legitimacy.
“We pride ourselves on our impartial and accurate reporting that doesn’t take sides and avoids bias,” she wrote. “As we pledged earlier this year, we will continue to tell Evan’s story until he can tell his own.”
In May, the free speech group PEN America honored Latour for his efforts to help bring Gershkovich home. In a speech, the publisher said that the goal of keeping the reporter in the headlines was to “keep Evan’s plight top of mind for the U.S. government and other authorities while they are juggling an ever growing pile of geopolitical and national priorities.”
Privately, Dow Jones sought guidance from WNBA officials, whose star player Brittney Griner had been detained in Russia a year prior; and Washington Post opinion columnist Jason Rezaian, whose 544-day imprisonment in Iran on espionage charges have propelled his advocacy for other journalists detained by foreign governments.
Company leaders were involved in behind-the-scenes negotiations and scores of visits with White House and foreign government officials; they also invited Gershkovich’s parents to the World Economic Forum in Davos for off-the-record conversations with representatives from other countries to emphasize their son’s plight.
The company’s top lawyer, Jason Conti, partnered with David Bowker of the law firm WilmerHale to work with officials outside of Russia and secure Gershkovich’s legal representation inside of Russia; they also submitted a petition to the United Nations to declare Gershkovich as “arbitrarily detained” by Russia.
“Evan’s freedom is our top priority,” Latour said in his May speech, “and the day that he comes back to his family, and to the Wall Street Journal, will be an overwhelming one.”
On Thursday, hundreds of staffers gathered in the Journal’s New York newsroom after the news broke of their colleague’s release.
“It’s a joyous day for all of us,” Tucker told them, as a bottle of champagne popped nearby, “as well as for Evan and his family” and “for all of the hundreds of people, thousands of people, who supported us.”
She added: “Sixteen months was a very long time, but a hell of a lot better than 16 years, so let’s all really rejoice that Evan is free.”
