Inside the race to bring jailed WSJ reporter home from Russia

Inside the fight to bring home jailed journalist Evan Gershkovich

What you probably already know: Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was arrested and detained in Russia on March 9, 2023 while he was there reporting for the Journal. The Russian government accused him of espionage, and he became the first American detained for that charge since the Cold War. A group of specialized experts came together to work to free Gershkovich, including government officials, attorneys, international negotiators and communications experts. Among them was Ashley Huston, who served as the communications advisor to WSJ parent company Dow Jones. From that role, she got a first-hand look at the work being done to free an American journalist who ultimately ended up being part of the most complex prisoner swap in two generations.

Why? About a week after Gershkovich was detained, Huston got an email from Dow Jones CEO Almar Latour asking her to step in and help. She’d spent nearly a decade with the WSJ and Dow Jones previously, and was a known, trusted person who could step in quickly in this crisis. She quickly became the point person for all communications, helping organize the in-house team and the Brunswick Group, which was helping with geopolitical public affairs. “All news organizations, especially ones like the Journal, have a lot of security protocols in place,” Huston said. “That’s one of the first ways they knew something was amiss for Evan. He missed his first check-in. Then his missed a second check-in.” It was at that point, Gershkovich’s editor called his parents and the crisis situation began to play out.

Inside the crisis: Part of Huston’s role was to help the family prepare to speak to the press. The first interview they did was with George Stephanopoulos with Good Morning America on the 100th day of their son’s incarceration in Russia. “The pace we were running at was going to be unsustainable for a lot of reasons — logistically but also emotionally … and we knew we needed to figure out a way to make this more sustainable. That’s when the idea of focusing on 100 days came into play,” Huston said. That was the first time his parents spoke and were in front of a camera. They were so worried, Huston said, that they’d say something that would make the situation worse, but getting them out there was vital. It kept their son’s situation front and center in the minds of the people who had the power to negotiate on his behalf. “Humanizing Evan was really one of our core pillars for the whole communication strategy,” Huston said. “It was really just getting people to understand the human side to his story and remember that what’s really at stake here is someone’s life.”

What happened? The family, Huston said, really rose to the occasion in a big way. But everyone had to be operating more or less perfectly for this situation to have a positive outcome. “One of the things I felt personally,” she said, “and that never really left me was that the stakes could not have been higher for this.” There was no Plan B or C. “There was only one acceptable outcome for this.” Ultimately, that was the outcome they got. Russia released Gershkovich on Aug. 1, 2024 in a prisoner swap that included the release of Russian assassin Vadim Krasikov and other Russian spies, and Russia’s release of former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan and journalist Alsu Kurmasheva.

We’ll include more from our conversation with Ashley Huston in an upcoming newsletter.

Editor’s note: Ashley Huston is Formidable CEO Emily Parkhurst’s cousin.