More than 300 journalists who worked in Russia ask for Gerhkovich’s release

Evan Gershkovich

More than 300 foreign correspondents who have worked in Moscow have written to the Russian government to call for the immediate release of Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter arrested last month, reports Sam Jones of The Guardian.

Jones reports, “The 301 signatories of the letter include the BBC’s Orla Guerin, the former New York Times journalist Bill Keller, John Kampfner, the executive director of the Chatham House thinktank and David Remnick, the editor of the New Yorker. Between them, the journalists have worked for media outlets from 22 different countries. The earliest signatory arrived in Moscow in 1964, while the most recent left in the past few weeks.

“The letter, addressed to Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, says the journalists are ‘shocked and appalled’ by Gershkovich’s arrest and the subsequent charges laid against him, and urges the dropping over the charges and his immediate release.

“‘Evan Gershkovich has a long and impressive record of journalistic work,’ it reads.”

Read more here.

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.