‘ONE YEAR STOLEN’

WSJ Leaves Blank Space on Front Page for Detained Journo Evan Gershkovich

The journalist was arrested and thrown in a Russian prison on March 29, 2023.

The Wall Street Journal on Friday dedicated its front page to reporter Evan Gershkovich, who remains detained in Russia one full year after he was arrested in Yekaterinburg on March 29, 2023. The paper left the majority of its Friday front page blank beneath the headline “His Story Should Be Here” to illustrate Gershkovich’s ongoing imprisonment. The Moscow-based journalist was jailed on spurious espionage charges just before he was set to leave the country, a setup that threw into focus the immediate risk that authoritarian governments pose to reporters and the press. The international nonprofit Reporters Without Borders counts more than 520 journalists in prison right now, a figure among the highest the group has ever recorded, WSJ editor in chief Emma Tucker wrote in an open letter on Friday. “These are statistics that should be of great concern to democratic governments and lawmakers, as well as right-minded people everywhere,” Tucker wrote. “Together, we must explore new ways to better support and protect journalists in the field.”