How the WSJ is keeping Gershkovich in the news

Sarah Scire of Nieman Lab writes about how The Wall Street Journal’s strategy is keeping jailed reporter Evan Gershkovich in the news.

Scire writes, “Gráinne McCarthy, chief digital editor, international for the Journal, is part of the team working to free Gershkovich. She talked about the strategy behind what the Journal calls its ‘activations’ for Gershkovich from the London offices where he once worked.

“‘I remember very early on, after Evan was seized in Russia and put in this prison in Moscow, we had a relatively new editor-in-chief [Emma Tucker],” McCarthy said. ‘Her gut reaction was very much, ‘Let’s make some noise.’ We firmly believe that making that noise is valuable on several different fronts.’

“‘Making Evan feel that he’s not forgotten is something that is incredibly important to us,’ McCarthy said, noting that it was important to his family, as well. ‘It sustains them to see that we’re as active as we can be.’

“The Journal does not have any direct contact with Gershkovich, McCarthy said, relying instead on lawyers from a Russian firm that can visit him ‘pretty much every week,’ email routed through Russian officials, and what they can glean from court appearances. The emails — which volunteers help translate, as mandated, into Russian — allow the 32-year-old Gershkovich to hear about the outside world and play chess (very slowly) with his father.”

Read more here.