Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich did nothing to warrant imprisonment when he was arrested by Russian authorities on March 29, 2023. Facing bogus charges of espionage, his only “crime” was covering the authoritarian government of Vladimir Putin with unflinching and unbiased clarity. A prisoner swap between the United States and Russia last week brought him safely home, sparing him and others unfairly detained from additional suffering.
But his ordeal aptly demonstrates the perilous work of journalists operating in hostile conditions, who endure threats and intimidation — as well as arrest, imprisonment and death — to keep the public informed. Freedom of the press is a cherished principle in the United States, a provision of our Constitution and a pillar of our democratic system. Several of the Founders were publishers and authors, statesmen who knew the power of the written word and the necessity to shield the media from government interference.
Such protections may be common in western nations, and many countries around the world recognize that a free press contributes to robust debate in open societies. In authoritarian states, however, investigative journalism threatens a regime’s power and is often met with harsh oppression, fictitious criminal charges and even extrajudicial killing. Russia has never been a welcoming place for journalists, even after the collapse of the communist system in the 1990s.
Numerous reporters died under suspicious circumstances under President Boris Yeltsin, and that accelerated under Putin, who has pursued independent journalists with his trademark viciousness. Last year’s arrest of Gershkovich, a well regarded journalist who worked in Moscow for several western media outlets, showed the lengths Putin’s regime would go to suppress coverage of his brutal invasion of Ukraine. He was detained by the Federal Security Service in Yekaterinburg and accused of espionage, the first American so charged since the Cold War.
Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal and the federal government all protested his innocence and demanded his release, but Russia persisted in his prosecution. His detention was a thumb in the eye of President Joe Biden, who had spent the better part of three years building and maintaining an international coalition helping Ukraine repel the Russian invaders. The Biden administration insisted throughout that it was working to free Gershkovich, but there were few public glimmers of hope as the reporter languished in a Russian prison.
But the president had been negotiating with Russia and several other countries on a swap that would bring Gershkovich and others home. That culminated last week with an exchange in which Gershkovich, former U.S Marine Paul Whelan, dual U.
S.-Russian citizen Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty editor Alsu Kurmasheva and Russian dissidents, including Vladimir Kara-Murza, were freed. Russia received at least six people held in three countries, including an operative convicted of killing a former Chechen rebel in a Berlin park in 2022.
Some have claimed that was too high a price for the United States and our allies to pay; those voices include former President Donald Trump, who at a campaign rally on Saturday night congratulated Putin for getting the better of the deal. Perhaps Trump was resentful of seeing Gershkovich and others who were freed praise Biden’s negotiating skills and his willingness to stand up to Putin. Reasonable Americans cheered for the safe return of their fellow citizens, not for the dictator who wrongly imprisoned them.
Perhaps they understand that the protection of a free press is paramount to their understanding of their communities, their nation and the larger world. And one hopes that the concern about Gershkovich’s plight inspires renewed support for press freedom, at home and abroad. The United States should be leading that charge, forcefully arguing for the safety of journalists working to keep the public informed — especially those in combat zones and authoritarian states.
If our Constitution is the United States’ gift to the world, then it should be resolute in its defense of the First Amendment’s defense of media freedom as an unquestioned forced for good. Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Click to share on X (Opens in new window) Most Popular Waterspout in Kill Devil Hills damages Avalon Pier, tosses people and beach gear Waterspout in Kill Devil Hills damages Avalon Pier, tosses people and beach gear Olympics TV schedule for Sunday, Aug. 4 Olympics TV schedule for Sunday, Aug.
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