Griner calls for release of WSJ reporter Gershkovich

Evan Gershkovich

U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner, who was released from Russia last month, called for the release of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.

Journal reporters Suzanne Vranica and Ann Simmons report, “‘Every American who is taken is ours to fight for and every American returned is a win for us all,’ said Ms. Griner, the WNBA star and two-time Olympian who was released in a high-profile prisoner swap after being jailed in Russia for most of last year.

“‘Our hearts are filled with great concern’ for Mr. Gershkovich and his family, Ms. Griner and her wife, Cherelle Griner, said in a statement that was posted to Instagram Saturday evening.

“Russia’s main security agency said Thursday that it had detained 31-year-old Mr. Gershkovich in the city of Yekaterinburg, about 800 miles east of Moscow, while he was on a reporting trip, accusing him of espionage.

“The Journal has vehemently denied the allegations and demanded Mr. Gershkovich’s release.”

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Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.