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How US reporter’s arrest will impact media coverage of Russia [1]
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Date: 2023-04
Two weeks after Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich was arrested in Russia, one thing is clear: his detention is a watershed in the history of Russian reporting – and it will change the way foreign media cover the country from now on.
The American’s detention, in the Urals city of Ekaterinburg on 29 March, has provoked a massive wave of support for the experienced and respected reporter. He has since been charged with espionage – the first US journalist to be accused of this since the Cold War.
Moscow officials have presented Gershkovich’s alleged actions as “activities that have nothing to do with journalism”, but without producing any evidence. In turn, the US State Department has declared that Gershkovich has been “wrongfully detained”. The 32-year-old is, US officials say, a hostage of the Russian legal system.
Media freedom in Russia has been rapidly deteriorating for at least a decade. News outlets have been declared “foreign agents” and “undesirable organisations”, and individual journalists have been arrested – including Ivan Safronov, who was sentenced to 22 years in prison last September for allegedly selling state secrets. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and subsequent mobilisation, hundreds of journalists have left the country.
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Over the past two years, this fast-deteriorating environment made foreign correspondents a rare – and valuable – source of information, though it’s hard to know how many are left now as some foreign media refuse to say whether they still have a presence inside Russia.
In the case of Gershkovich, his detention means the loss of a journalist who sought to see Russian society in all its complexity, rather than following the clichés that many Moscow correspondents promote. More broadly, it also signals the shrinking capacity to produce quality journalism about Russia in the second year of its war against Ukraine.
A place to make careers
Since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia has attracted thousands of foreigners who sought to capitalise on the economic opportunities of the 1990s and the West’s fascination with the country.
For those who wanted a career in international media, it was the perfect place to start. First, a post in Russia, then a book about Russia, and then promotion or a lucrative post in another foreign country – this path was taken by many foreign journalists who covered Russia during and after perestroika.
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[1] Url:
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/evan-gershkovich-wall-street-journal-arrest-impact-foreign-media-russia/
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