Free Evan: Russia sentences US journalist to prison. But he's a hostage, not a criminal.
With Washington engulfed in political drama, let’s not forget a glaring injustice 5,000 miles away. That’s where an American reporter was handed a long Russian prison sentence Friday just for doing his job.
After a brief show trial on trumped-up spy charges, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was consigned to Russia’s brutal penal system for 16 years. Yet, he was arrested last year not on some clandestine dead drop, but at a steakhouse after a reporting trip far from Moscow.
Even more chilling than Gershkovich’s unjustified sentence is the cautionary message it sends for journalists and journalism around the world. In the era of instant social media posts, it’s easy to think of news as an easy process, without realizing the pain and blood that can come from gathering real news.
Journalists are threatened, beaten and sometimes killed in Russia and around the globe, just for the crime of informing us of the truth.
Reporters and photographers are on the front lines of the information war. Society of Professional Journalists President Ashanti Blaize-Hopkins points out that Gershkovich’s “shameful” sentence “sets a dangerous precedent for journalists working abroad.”
Putin uses imprisoned American journalist as a pawn
Gershkovich’s shaved head is reminiscent of political prisoners and the Soviet gulag, an era that helped shape Russian President Vladimir Putin’s cynical ideology. Putin wants to return Russia to the supposed glories of the Soviet Union’s power. Bogged down in the war in Ukraine, Putin knows it’s easier to wring concessions from the West by grabbing an innocent American journalist like Gershkovich.
Russia offers no real proof of his alleged “spying.” But a staple of anti-American regimes is making vague, often nonsensical allegations of CIA involvement to distract from their domestic woes.
Brittney Griner turns tables on Putin: Black, gay WNBA star has become one of the most powerful advocates for another hostage still being held in Russia
It’s right out of the dictator’s handbook. In fact, a USA TODAY report noted that Gershkovich “was the first U.S. journalist arrested on spying charges in Russia since the Cold War.” Like then, the accredited correspondent is really a hostage, not a criminal.
Gershkovich’s imprisonment is the old Soviet-style version of today’s internet clickbait. It’s designed to get U.S. attention. But a life remains in the balance. Putin no doubt knows ? and doesn’t care ? about Gershkovich’s innocence. The American is simply trade bait for the Russian autocrat to get something or someone out of the West.
Unlike Gershkovich’s trial, there’s abundant evidence he’s merely another pawn in Putin’s evil geopolitical chess game. These factors include:
Russia was open to a deal well before Gershkovich’s pre-ordained verdict. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov admitted prisoner exchange talks were already underway before Friday's sentencing.
Putin’s regime has been on a shopping spree for human bargaining chips. Several other Americans have been arrested on seemingly spurious charges. They include a dual citizen working as a journalist for the U.S. government’s Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
The rushed Gershkovich proceedings may signal Putin’s seriousness to reach a deal. Russia traditionally prefers formal “convictions,” before any release. Another potentially positive sign is any deal may include other Americans. President Joe Biden declared “no higher priority” than freeing Gershkovich, former Marine Paul Whelan “and all Americans wrongfully detained and held hostage abroad.”
Putin may demand a heavy price in trade. To free WNBA star Brittney Griner, jailed for possessing cannabis oil, America handed over Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, the infamous “Merchant of Death.”
This unseemly bargaining may be why Putin also insists talks remain private. He seeks a complex release deal, freeing a Russian imprisoned in Germany for killing a dissident.
Journalists often risk their lives to report the truth
Some of Gershkovich’s newspaper colleagues have shaved their heads to raise awareness of his plight. But the average American can start by valuing the dangerous and sometimes deadly work of journalism, here and overseas. Imprisonment, hostage-taking, beatings and executions are ugly parts of the job.
In 2002, Daniel Pearl was another brave Wall Street Journal reporter taken hostage in Pakistan. Islamist terrorists filmed his beheading as Pearl declared his Jewish heritage.
Last month, Gershkovich received in absentia the Daniel Pearl Award “for courage and integrity in journalism.”
USA TODAY stands with Evan Gershkovich. Russia's detainment of WSJ reporter raises the stakes.
In 2012, Austin Tice, a Marine turned conflict journalist, was abducted in Syria. Just two years ago, Biden said “with certainty” Tice has been held by the Syrian government.
Between the Republican and Democratic conventions, there’ll be a lot of flags, platforms and platitudes. We also need to patriotically honor freedom of the press as a cherished American constitutional value.
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Media bashing is a national sport engaged by all political sides. But also remember that journalists are real people who may take real risks. They step up, not hunker down, to document critical news ? from an assassin’s bullets in Pennsylvania to dangerous and dictatorial rule around the world.
Few things in complex international relations can be reduced to hashtags. But it fits the unseemly bill in this case. #FreeEvan. And #BringAustinHome, along with journalists and innocent others. Constant pressure is needed to help make these hashtags become reality.
One powerful message stands for the nearly 500 days of Evan Gershkovich’s detainment: Journalism is not a crime.
Lee Michael Katz is author of "My Name Is Geraldine Ferraro." He is the former senior diplomatic correspondent for USA TODAY and international editor of UPI. Katz has reported from more than 60 countries.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Russia doesn't care Gershkovich is innocent. Putin needs him as a pawn