Last week marked the 100th day of unjust and unlawful imprisonment for Evan Gershkovich, the Russia-based based correspondent for the Wall Street Journal. He sits in a Moscow jail for reporting truthfully about Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
Journalism is a risky enterprise. Reporters whose aim is to tell the truth inevitably anger people, whether covering fashion or food, finance or foreign policy. They might lose a source, perhaps a few readers, even their job, as a consequence.
Evan Gershkovich is a reminder that journalists can lose their freedom, too.
Admirably, the editors, staff and ownership at the Wall Street Journal are doing everything they can to maintain public awareness of Evan’s plight. Although it might seem trivial at a time when anyone can comment on anything at any time, sustained public attention can make a difference. It can give hope to Evan’s family and those working on his behalf, and it reminds Putin that he cannot achieve what he desperately wants: to silence those who tell the truth about his regime.
A similar public campaign was essential to securing the release of another captive reporter more than thirty years ago.
Terry Anderson, the Lebanon bureau chief for the Associated Press, was kidnapped by Hezbollah in 1985. His sister, Peggy Say – who had no professional experience in journalism, politics or business – started a drive to free him. She successfully kept pubic attention on his plight while urging officials in the Reagan and Bush administrations to win his release.
Here is what she had to say about her efforts to tell Terry’s story, speaking in an interview with NPR in 1991, shortly after she published a book on her campaign (itself an effort to keep the public focused):
I certainly have done things that I never dreamed I would be able to do, but you have to understand that when I travel, when I have a meeting, or when I have an interview, I have in my head the compelling picture of my brother on a cold basement floor, chained to a wall, and that is my motivation. That is my focus. So I’m not really being aware of or being intimidated by whoever is sitting in front of me. I am talking to someone who… might be able to influence a situation. I am focused on Terry and getting my message across. I don’t think about the other things.”
Terry Anderson was freed on December 4, 1991, and was greeted by his sister two days later.
We hope for the swift release of Evan Gershkovich.