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Who is Evan Gershkovich, the American reporter arrested in Russia?

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• Gershkovich has been reporting on Russia for six years
• Fluent Russian speaker joined Wall Street Journal in early 2022
• His reports examined fallout of Russia's Ukraine campaign
• Detained for alleged espionage on trip to Yekaterinburg

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• Russia’s Arrest of a Wall Street <em>Journal</em> Reporter Has More to Do With Geopolitics Than Espionage

Russia’s Arrest of a Wall Street Journal Reporter Has More to Do With Geopolitics Than Espionage

R ussia’s security service, the FSB, on Wednesday arrested Evan Gershkovich, an American Wall Street Journal reporter on espionage charges. Gershkovich had extensively reported on Russia, including on the deterioration of the country’s economy.

While it’s too soon to say for certain why Russian authorities detained Gershkovich, experts on press freedom tell TIME that Russia’s claim he committed espionage is dubious. What’s far more likely is that Russia was seeking retaliation or leverage against the U.S.—or both.

The arrest is part “of a pattern with this increasing crackdown on free and independent media,” says Jodie Ginsberg, the president of the Committee to Protect Journalists. Within Russia, prosecutors have opened cases against dozens of Russian journalists, who also face surveillance, violence and are at times physically followed. However, it’s rare for a foreign journalist to face prosecution in Russia, says Ginsberg, as they’re more often deported or blocked from entering the country instead.

Many western outlets pulled some or all of their journalists out of Moscow as a result of the rising tensions following the Russian invasion of Ukraine last year, and Gershkovich’s arrest may make it even harder for those who remain.

“It’s a way for the Kremlin to intimidate the western journalists still reporting in Russia,” says Jeanne Cavelier, the head of Eastern Europe and Central Asia Desk for Reporters Without Borders. “If western journalists can’t report on Russia any more, without being arrested without being suspected and accused of espionage, the country may become a black hole of information.”

Who is Evan Gershkovich?

Gershkovich, a 31-year-old U.S. citizen, is a reporter based in the Wall Street Journal’s Moscow bureau. According to the Journal, his parents were Jewish immigrants who settled in the U.S. after leaving the Soviet Union. His father was from Odessa and his mother was St. Petersburg. Gershkovich mastered Russian during his time as an adult in Moscow. Gershkovich had worked as a reporter in Russia since 2017, and joined the publication in January 2022, per the Journal , after reporting for the Moscow Times , Agence France-Presse, and the New York Times. In the most recent story he published, he wrote about the effects of sanctions on the Russian economy.

Gershkovich was arrested on Wednesday in Yekaterinburg, which is north of Kazakhstan, on a reporting trip, the Journal reported. Novaya Gazeta Europe reported that Gershkovich was reporting on Russian attitudes about the private military company Wagner Group .

Why does Russia say it arrested Gershkovich?

The FSB said in a statement that Gershkovich is “suspected of spying in the interests of the American government,” and that its investigative department has initiated an espionage criminal case against him.

“It was established that E. Gershkovich, acting on the assignment of the American side, collected information constituting a government secret about the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex,” the statement said.

The Russian news agency TASS reported that Gershkovich pleaded not guilty at a court in Moscow.

“The Wall Street Journal vehemently denies the allegations from the FSB and seeks the immediate release of our trusted and dedicated reporter, Evan Gershkovich,” the newspaper said in a statement . “We stand in solidarity with Evan and his family.”

What’s the real reason Gershkovich was arrested?

Russia likely arrested Gershkovich to gain leverage against the United States and to send a warning to foreign journalists about the risks of reporting on Russia’s affairs, says Bill McCarren, the executive director of the National Press Club.

“You see that in Iran, and in other places, but we have not seen this in Russia with respect to a Western journalist.” says McCarren. Arresting a foreign journalist on spy charges is a dangerous precedent for Russia, he says. Current Russian law makes anyone doing credible reporting in the country vulnerable. However, according to Ginsberg, Russia had not arrested an American journalist on an espionage charges since 1986, under the Soviet Union.

While McCarren emphasizes that it’s difficult to know exactly why Russia chose to detain Gershkovich, he says that it may partly be due to his reporting. Given Gershkovich’s recent reporting, says McCarren, it isn’t surprising the government targeted him. At the time of his arrest, Gershkovich was reporting on PMC Wagner, a private military company which has played a major role in the war effort. The independent news organization Meduza reported that Gershkovich had also visited Nizhny Tagil, where a defense facility is based. His last byline for the Journal before his arrest was, “ Russia’s Economy Is Starting to Come Undone .” Russia has been keen to maintain popular support for the conflict in Russia, so Gershkovich’s recent report may have been particularly disturbing to the Kremlin.

“I think it’s meant to be a warning sign to all Western press that was working in the way Evan was—and there’s not that much of it now, because of the current crackdown,” says McCarren. “This is using the judicial system of Russia as a masquerade for an act of, essentially, terrorism. Hostage taking. Opportunism.”

Russia may also intend to use Gershkovich as a “bargaining chip” to return Sergey Cherkasov, an operative for the GRU foreign military agency, who the Washington Post reported on March 29 was arrested last year, says Cavelier of Reporters Without Borders .

In the past, Cavelier noted, countries have used journalists as spies, which she says makes it “very convenient to accuse journalists.” However, she emphasized that there is “absolutely no indication that he was doing anything other than leading investigative work for Wall Street Journal .” McCarren added that Gershkovich worked for several major media organizations, which carefully vet reporters they hire.

“Authoritarian regimes will try everything they can to smear journalists, accuse them of wrongdoing, in order to detract from their own wrongdoing,” says Ginsberg.

How is the world reacting?

The arrest was widely condemned by his fellow journalists and organizations supporting press freedom, who called for his release.

“We are deeply concerned over Russia’s widely-reported detention of a U.S. citizen journalist. We are in contact with the Wall Street Journal on this situation. Whenever a U.S. citizen is detained abroad, we immediately seek consular access, and seek to provide all appropriate support,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement. “In the strongest possible terms, we condemn the Kremlin’s continued attempts to intimidate, repress, and punish journalists and civil society voices.”

“Arresting a foreign journalist on espionage charges is a serious escalation of Russia’s attacks on journalism,” said Scott Griffen, the deputy director of the International Press Institute in a statement . “It underscores the depth of Russia’s effort to silence coverage of Putin’s war on Ukraine, which has already led to a serious crackdown on Russian journalists. Now, that dragnet appears to be expanding further.”

Pauline Ades-Mevel, a spokesperson for Reporters Without Borders, told the Journal that the group is “alarmed by what looks like retaliation against journalists.”

“Journalists must not be targeted, even if unfortunately they have been regularly since the invasion,” she said.

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MLB Trade Rumors

White Sox Designate John Brebbia For Assignment

By Steve Adams | August 27, 2024 at 3:06pm CDT

The White Sox announced Tuesday that they’ve designated right-handed reliever John Brebbia for assignment and optioned third baseman Bryan Ramos to Triple-A Charlotte. Their roster spots will go to infielder Jacob Amaya , whom the Sox recently claimed off waivers, and right-hander Prelander Berroa , who’s being recalled from Charlotte.

It’s been a rollercoaster of a season for Brebbia, who signed a one-year, $5.5MM deal with the Sox over the winter. He started the season with five scoreless appearances and was generally sharp through mid-May before enduring a massive three-week slump. He righted the ship in early June and went on a dominant six-week stretch where he pitched to a sub-1.00 ERA with elite strikeout and walk rates … only to fall into another, even lengthier slump from which he’s yet to escape. Dating back to July 14, Brebbia has allowed 16 runs in 11 2/3 frames.

All told, Brebbia’s Jekyll-and-Hyde act will result in a grisly 6.29 ERA through 48 2/3 innings. He had multiple stretches where he pitched far, far better than that ultimate mark would suggest him to be capable of, but when Brebbia has been off his game, things have often snowballed in a hurry. He’s had six different relief outings this season in which he’s been tagged for at least three earned runs — including a four-run drubbing in what’ll now be his final outing with the Sox.

Ugly as this season’s results have been, Brebbia has a nice track record overall. In six prior big league seasons, he pitched 299 2/3 innings with a 3.42 ERA, 25.5% strikeout rate and 7.2% walk rate between the Cardinals (2017-19) and Giants (2021-23). Brebbia missed the 2020 season due to Tommy John surgery and struggled to a 5.18 ERA in his 2021 return (albeit in just 18 1/3 innings). Outside of that short ’21 showing and this year’s implosion with the South Siders, he’s posted a sub-4.00 ERA every season.

Even with that track record and some legitimately impressive stretches interspersed throughout his 2024 season, Brebbia won’t be claimed off waivers. He’s owed not only the balance of his $4MM base salary (about $688K) but also a $1.5MM buyout on next year’s $6MM club option. If that combined $2.188MM for a four-week rental isn’t dissuading enough, Brebbia would also pick up a $250K bonus the next time he takes the mound, under the terms of his current contract. (He’s already earned $500K of bonuses for reaching 45 and 50 appearances and had identical bonuses available at 55 and 60 games pitched.)

Instead, Brebbia will pass through waivers unclaimed and become a free agent (whether by straight release or rejecting an outright assignment). At that point, a new team could sign him for only the prorated league minimum for any time spent in the majors. The incentives built into his White Sox contract would  not follow him to a new team on a new free-agent deal, so that $250K bonus and the option buyout (which is still owed to him by the White Sox) will be nonfactors for Brebbia’s next team.

Even with this season’s poor bottom-line results, Brebbia has whiffed 27% of his opponents and limited walks at a sharp 7.9% clip. A contender in need of bullpen depth might be intrigued by that K-BB profile and take a low-risk flier on the veteran righty. So long as he’s with his new organization on or before Aug. 31, he’d be postseason-eligible.

22 Comments

8 hours ago

well thats a waste of $4M

greatgame: Making more than $4m was his downfall. Billionaire Jerry isn’t gonna pony up that kind of dough.

6 hours ago

Hopefully he does more with it than Jerry did.

4 hours ago

Giants will bring him back, and given the state of their arms in general, they should.

He was the captain of the all ugly team

Strauss: He could be, but that “honor” has to go to Josh Naylor.

5 hours ago

avenger65, you must be a white Sox fan

This has been going on for way too long! We need the commissioner to help the Chicago White Sox sad sad fans. Mr. Commissioner do you realize the Large market Chicago White Sox are 35 games behind the small market forth place Tigers. This is a black eye for MLB and nobody seems to care.

7 hours ago

Tigers aren’t small

Tigers are far from a small market like the Wsox. Both are mid market franchises(and similar as a franchise as a whole).

Facts are Chicago population 2:75 million Detroit 625000. That’s a big difference

Chicago is a big market franchise that acts like a small market franchise.

That’s for sure!!

Yes it’s a big market, but the Wsox lose leverage to the Cubs.

There’s enough people in Chicago to fully support two teams. The White Sox just make a lot of dumb decisions.

3 hours ago

Careful. His idea will be to move the A’s *and* ChiSox to Vegas. That’ll show you

Back to the Giants, we need bullpen help.

Guess it’s time to shave seasons over.

Sox fans shaved after the first 10 days.

John Mozeilak on line one Mr. Brebbia. This must be why the Cardinals dfa’d Armstrong, so we could add another guy to the former washed-up Cardinals reunion tour.

15 mins ago

And when Brebbia walks to the mound at Busch wearing that Cardinals uniform, he will be honored with a standing ovation by the 23,000 in attendance.

36 seconds ago

The Sox are not going to save the $2.2 million remaining to Brebbia, but they do save $500K by removing him as a relief option.

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The U.S. condemns Russia's arrest of a Wall Street Journal reporter

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich is escorted by Russian officers from the Lefortovsky court to a bus, in Moscow, Thursday. Russia's Federal Security Service said its agents detained Gershkovich in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg, accusing him of trying to obtain classified information. Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP hide caption

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich is escorted by Russian officers from the Lefortovsky court to a bus, in Moscow, Thursday. Russia's Federal Security Service said its agents detained Gershkovich in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg, accusing him of trying to obtain classified information.

Russia has detained a U.S. citizen working for the Moscow bureau of The Wall Street Journal on suspicion of spying, drawing condemnation from the United States and press freedom groups. The newspaper swiftly denied the accusation.

Evan Gershkovich was on a reporting assignment in the Ural mountain city of Yekaterinburg when he was detained on Wednesday by agents from Russia's Federal Security Service, the FSB.

The FSB alleged in a statement that Gershkovich, "acting on an assignment from the American side, was gathering information classified as a state secret about the activity of one of the enterprises of Russia's military-industrial complex."

The Urals mountain region is home to various Russian military factories.

A Moscow court formally arrested the American reporter on charges of espionage and ordered him to be held until May 29 pending an investigation, according to Russian media reports , which said Gershkovich pleaded not guilty.

The Wall Street Journal said in a statement it "vehemently denies the allegations from the FSB and seeks the immediate release" of Gershkovich.

A picture taken on July 24, 2021, shows journalist Evan Gershkovich. The American journalist worked for The Moscow Times and the Agence France-Presse before joining The Wall Street Journal's Moscow bureau. Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

A picture taken on July 24, 2021, shows journalist Evan Gershkovich. The American journalist worked for The Moscow Times and the Agence France-Presse before joining The Wall Street Journal's Moscow bureau.

The U.S. is "deeply concerned"

U.S. officials say they are "deeply concerned" about the arrest.

"The targeting of American citizens by the Russian government is unacceptable. We condemn the detention of Mr. Gershkovich in the strongest terms," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement .

She said "the State Department has been in direct touch with the Russian government on this matter." Officials are also in contact with the reporter's family and his employer.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken also condemned "in the strongest possible terms" what he described as the "Kremlin's continued attempts to intimidate, repress, and punish journalists and civil society voices."

Russia has introduced a slew of restrictive laws surrounding media and information since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. At least 19 journalists were in Russian prison as of December, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

The Wall Street Journal is one of a small handful of Western media outlets that continue to report in Moscow despite the restrictive environment.

The Kremlin said it was aware of the arrest but called it "the prerogative" of the FSB.

"The only thing I can say is that, as far as we're aware, they caught him red-handed," Kremlin spokesmen Dmitry Peskov said in a call with reporters.

Peskov also noted that the Journal could continue its work in Russia.

Russia's Foreign Ministry — which issues visas and accreditation to foreign journalists — expressed support for Gershkovich's arrest.

"Unfortunately, it's not the first time the status of 'foreign correspondent', a journalist visa, and accreditation have been used by foreigners in our country to cover for activities that have nothing to do with journalism," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

Russia's Kommersant daily newspaper said Gershkovich would soon be transported to Moscow's Lefortovo prison, the FSB's pre-trial detention facility.

Espionage charges in Russia can carry a prison sentence of up to 20 years.

Gershkovich, 31, has covered Russia since 2017, working with The Moscow Times and the Agence France-Presse before joining The Wall Street Journal's Moscow bureau in January 2022.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists also called for Russian authorities to immediately release Gershkovich and drop charges against him.

Russia has "sent a clear message to foreign correspondents that they will not be spared from the ongoing purge of the independent media in the country," Gulnoza Said, CPJ's Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, said in a statement .

The U.S. warns citizens not to travel to Russia

Secretary of State Blinken reiterated the government's "strong warnings about the danger posed to U.S. citizens" inside Russia and said those in the country should leave immediately.

But White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said he did not know of U.S. government efforts to tell news organizations to remove their reporters from Russia. "We understand that you all have an important job to do," he said in a briefing Thursday.

Several Americans are detained in Russian prisons on charges ranging from drug smuggling to espionage.

In December, Russia and the U.S. engaged in a prisoner swap — trading American basketball star Brittney Griner , who had been sentenced to nine years in a penal colony for carrying a small amount of hash oil, for a convicted Russian arms dealer.

• The Wall Street Journal
• Russia-Ukraine war
• war in Ukraine
• Evan Gershkovich

Nick Senzel, former Reds first-round pick, designated for assignment by Chicago White Sox

For the second time in two months, former Cincinnati Reds infielder and outfielder Nick Senzel has been designated for assignment.

The Chicago White Sox announced the Senzel move Monday.

Senzel, who turned 29 years old in June, had three hits in 32 plate appearances over 10 games with the White Sox, with one walk and eight strikeouts.

Senzel hit a go-ahead, two-run home run for the Reds in the 10th inning against the Washington Nationals on July 6, 2023. Senzel, who signed a one-year deal with the Nats last December, was designated for assignment by Washington exactly one year after that homer.

Senzel was expected to start the Nats' Opening Day game against the Reds at Great American Ball Park, but he broke his thumb before the game started.

Senzel played five seasons for Cincinnati, with a career-high 420 plate appearances in 2022. He batted .239 with 33 homers for the Reds between 2019 and 2023.

The Reds made him the second overall pick of the 2016 MLB draft out of University of Tennessee.

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Journalist Evan Gershkovich has been detained for 100 days by Russian government

The Wall Street Journal reporter is being held on espionage charges.

Friday marks journalist and U.S. citizen Evan Gershkovich's 100th day being detained by Russian government authorities.

The 31-year-old Wall Street Journal reporter has sat in Moscow's Lefortovo prison for more than three months, held on espionage charges -- charges he and the outlet vehemently deny. The U.S. has said Gershkovich is being " wrongfully detained ."

Gershkovich, who has lived and worked as an accredited journalist in Moscow for the last six years, was in a restaurant in Yekaterinburg, a cosmopolitan city about 1,000 miles from the country's capital, when Russia's Federal Security Service arrested him on March 29.

Russian investigators have since alleged Gershkovich was "acting on the instructions of the American side, collected information constituting a state secret about the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex" and "trying to obtain secret information" at the time of his arrest. Gershkovich has pleaded not guilty. He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted in a case that is marked "top secret."

MORE: Russian court denies appeal of Wall Street Journal reporter

Gershkovich's arrest, which foreign policy experts speculate was spurred by political motivations, came at a time of increased tension between the U.S. and Russia over the war in Ukraine. And, as Danielle Gilbert, a foreign policy fellow at Dartmouth College who specializes in hostage diplomacy, told ABC News in April, his arrest had "suspicious" timing. The American journalist was taken into custody days after Sergey Cherkasov, a Russian national accused by the Department of Justice of operating as an illegal agent for the country's intelligence service, was charged by the U.S.

This week, the Kremlin indicated it might be open to discussing a possible prisoner swap, just like it did with WNBA star Brittney Griner and U.S. marine Trevor Reed . On a conference call with reporters Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed the two sides had had "contacts," The Associated Press reported.

"We have said that there have been certain contacts on the subject, but we don't want them to be discussed in public," Peskov said, per The AP. "They must be carried out and continue in complete silence."

MORE: Why was Evan Gershkovich targeted?

Gershkovich isn't the only high-profile American arrest in Russia. Marine Corps veteran Paul Whelan is four years into a 16-year prison sentence on espionage charges, though President Joe Biden's administration vowed in December 2022 to continue efforts to bring him home.

Gershkovich, who has not been convicted of a crime, was denied his appeal for release by a Moscow court, which ruled last month he must stay in jail until Aug. 30.

Friends of Gershkovich, a native of Princeton, New Jersey, and the son of Soviet Union immigrants Ella and Mikhail Gershkovich, have said they were stunned by his imprisonment.

"It was earth-shattering," Sam Patterson, who was roommates with Gershkovich in their senior year at Maine's Bowdoin College, told ABC News in April. "It's something that we had asked Evan about, whether he was ever concerned about something like this happening, and so to see his name on a New York Times news alert, I just couldn't believe it. I really could not believe it."

MORE: Who is Evan Gershkovich? What friends say about the Wall Street Journal reporter detained in Russia

Thatcher Foster, who met Gershkovich playing soccer when they were 6-year-olds, previously told ABC News the two had recently joked about which of their friends' weddings Gershkovich would attend this summer since he had at least three, including Foster's, in June.

"It's hard to process ... because it's Evan, our really smart, caring friend who four days before we were FaceTiming, asking him what wedding he was going to come to this summer," he said in April. "He was very apologetic that he couldn't make all three."

ABC News' Shannon K. Crawford and Libby Cathey contributed to this report.

Editor's note: The Wall Street Journal has never publicly confirmed what story Evan Gershkovich was working on before he was detained.

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Assignment Moscow: Reporting on Russia from Lenin to Putin Paperback – May 18, 2023

The story of western correspondents in Russia is the story of Russia's attitude to the west. Russia has at different times been alternately open to western ideas and contacts, cautious and distant or, for much of the twentieth century, all but closed off. From the revolutionary period of the First World War onwards, correspondents in Russia have striven to tell the story of a country known to few outsiders. Their stories have not always been well received by political elites, audiences, and even editors in their own countries-but their accounts have been a huge influence on how the West understands Russia. Not always perfect, at times downright misleading, they have, overall, been immensely valuable. In Assignment Moscow , former foreign correspondent James Rodgers analyses the news coverage of Russia throughout history, from the coverage of the siege of the Winter Palace and a plot to kill Stalin, to the Chernobyl explosion and the Salisbury poison scandal.

• Print length 280 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Bloomsbury Academic
• Publication date May 18, 2023
• Dimensions 6.15 x 0.85 x 9.15 inches
• ISBN-10 1350356107
• ISBN-13 978-1350356108
• See all details

Editorial Reviews

“ Assignment Moscow exposes how the Moscow correspondent has had to adapt to multiple manifestations of censorship, or compete with state-run media, the severity of which has ebbed and flowed with changes in regime.” ― History Today “Rodgers's narrative rests on an enormous number of articles in Anglo-American media, books by and about journalists, and his own interviews with many Moscow correspondents.” ― Foreign Affairs Magazine “Rodgers retains his focus on the correspondent's interactions with Russia and Russians, rather than being sidetracked into discussions of normative values or political controversy. This approach prepares the reader for the conclusion, which celebrates the openness and curiosity of the best Russia correspondents, reminding the reader that what they have just read is a history not of Russia but of how Western correspondents have told Russia's stories. Differentiating the two is an important and hitherto neglected task but one that James Rodgers has achieved masterfully.” ― Journalism “Reporting from Russia has never been easy; Rodgers vividly captures the changing fortunes of Moscow correspondents over the past hundred years, as they penetrated the mysteries of life in Russia and brought them to our newspapers and screens. Some were duped, some were fellow-travellers or spies; most battled against censors and blank-faced politicians; all have helped to shape our understanding of the world's biggest country.” ― Angus Roxburgh, former Moscow correspondent for the BBC, Sunday Times and Economist “Writing about journalism in Russia since the revolution, James Rodgers rightly emphasises that to understand Russia you have to talk to people of all kinds. But he argues that even correspondents who knew the language and the history found it hard to report dispassionately because of official obstruction and their own emotional involvement.” ― Rodric Braithwaite “A highly original, engrossing and accessible book, Assignment Moscow stands out among journalistic accounts of Russia for its subtlety, humility and historic scope. It tells the story of British and American journalists who aimed to throw light on Russia from Lenin to Putin, and in the process illuminated the West itself.” ― Arkady Ostrovsky, Author of The Invention of Russia: The Rise of Putin and the age of Fake News, Winner of the 2016 Orwell Prize “It is hard to believe that in the torrent of books published on Russia each year, that one could come along as original and valuable as Assignment Moscow. One comes to appreciate the service of our reporting men and women in Moscow. For all their fallibilities, without their dedication, we wouldn't have half the understanding of Russia that we have today, imperfect as it will always be. We therefore owe them – and especially Rodgers as journalist, teacher, analyst and cataloguer – a huge debt.” ― James Nixey, Chatham House “[Rodgers'] experience has been wisely distilled in this fair-minded, balanced and perceptive exploration of the problems reporters have faced in trying to report from Russia.” ― British Journalism Review “Reveals how journalists' experiences reporting from Russia for the past 100 years mirrors its changing attitude to the West.” ― The Journalist

About the Author

Product details.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Bloomsbury Academic (May 18, 2023)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 280 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1350356107
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1350356108
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.8 ounces
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.15 x 0.85 x 9.15 inches
• #1,257 in Media & Internet in Politics (Books)
• #1,341 in Russian & Soviet Politics
• #5,866 in Journalist Biographies

About the author

James rodgers.

James Rodgers writes books on international affairs, especially armed conflict. His work has a focus on how the stories of those events are told to the world. Much of his writing draws on his own experience reporting from the former Soviet Union and the Middle East as a journalist from the 1990s onwards. During his BBC career (1995-2010), James completed postings in Moscow, Brussels, and Gaza where, from 2002-2004, he was the only international correspondent based in the territory. His numerous other assignments included New York and Washington following the September 11th attacks; reporting from Iraq in 2003 and 2004 during the United States-led invasion; and covering the wars in Chechnya.

James now lectures in International Journalism at City, University of London. He still works as a journalist, too--contributing work to the BBC, NBC Think, Forbes.com, Monocle Radio, and others.

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High School Assignment Sparks Controversy for Asking Students to Answer ‘Is God Real?’

“This is some crazy s--- overall and also on a technical level,” said a Skiatook High School student’s mother

A homework assignment ignited uproar online after a concerned parent shared a photo of the questions a teacher wanted her child to answer, including "Is God real?"

Oklahoma mother Olivia Gray posted her sophomore daughter Nettie Gray’s world history assignment from a Skiatook High School teacher on Facebook on Aug. 15, describing it as “some crazy s---.”

The assignment — titled “How did the world start?” — ended with two questions that raised concerns: “Is God real?” and “Is Satan real?”

“It’s being called a research paper,” Olivia wrote of the assignment, which asked students to provide sources using APA Style to support their answers. 

“This is some crazy s--- overall and also on a technical level. Literally the kid had been in school ONE WEEK,” she concluded.

Many reacted to the assignment in the comments section of Olivia's Facebook post.

“This assignment is wrong on more than ten levels,” one person commented, while another wrote, “I’m stunned and horrified they are even being allowed to push or preach their own personal religion/religious bias like that onto students in a public school in the United States.”

Never miss a story — sign up for  PEOPLE's free daily newsletter  to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. In a statement to area news outlet 2 News Oklahoma on Aug. 19, the school district addressed the situation.

“Skiatook Public Schools became aware of the World History assignment in question through a social media post,” the statement read. “Once administration reviewed the assignment, it was determined that the presentation of the material was not conducive to our instructional plan.”

“Administration and staff will continue to collaborate on best practices to meet the Oklahoma Academic Standards,” the statement added.

PEOPLE reached out to Skiatook Public Schools’ Superintendent Rick Loggins and Director of Curriculum Tim Buck for comment about the controversial assignment, but did not immediately hear back.

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Houston Astros Slugger Takes Latest Sprint Toward Injury Rehab Assignment

Matthew postins | 4 hours ago.

• Houston Astros

Houston Astros right fielder Kyle Tucker , who has missed two months with a shin injury, took a big step toward a rehab assignment that would get him back in the Majors.

On Tuesday, outlets following the team, including MLB.com , reported that Tucker was running sprints in the outfield.

How significant is that? Well, manager Joe Espada said last week that it was a hurdle that Tucker needed to clear to move toward injury rehab at-bats at a minor league affiliate. Tucker remained behind in Houston last week in what Espada called an attempt to “ramp him up.”

Outfield sprints would be a ramp-up in this case. But it’s not the last hurdle he needs to clear.

Tucker was likely doing straight-line sprints. In these cases the player gets a day to recover to see how their body tolerates it. If his recovery goes well, he could to another set of sprints or move to the final step that everyone in Tucker’s situation has to clear — running the bases.

In that case, Tucker would be running full speed and likely running from first to third base to emulate a game situation. This would not only test the shin but ensure it has the flexibility to make the turn at second base.

It’s a mundane step forward, but the Astros and Tucker will take any step forward at this point.

He suffered the injury on June 3 when he fouled a baseball off the shin. At the time, the Houston was hopeful Tucker wouldn’t even have to go on the injured list. But a few days later he needed crutches to help keep weight off the injury and Houston put him on the 10-day IL.

The injury recovery has frustrated Tucker and the Astros. While Tucker was named to the All-Star Game as an American League reserve, he opted to stay in Houston and skip the game so he could continue his recovery.

Two weeks ago in Tampa there was optimism around Tucker’s recovery based on a workout in Tampa Bay. During that work out he shagged fly balls in left field, jogged, ran in explosive movements from side-to-side and in short distances, along with taking crow-hop throws.

He’s also taken batting practice within the last week. But, until he’s able to sprint around the bases, a trip to Double-A Corpus Christi or Triple-A Sugar Land is not in the offing.

When the 27-year-old right fielder went on the IL he was slashing .266/.395/.584/.979 with 19 home runs and 40 RBI. At the time his .979 OPS was fourth in the Majors behind Aaron Judge, Juan Soto and Marcell Ozuna. He was second in the AL with 46 walks and third with a .584 slugging percentage. He also had more walks than strikeouts (41) at the plate.

MATTHEW POSTINS

Matthew Postins is an award-winning sports journalist who covers the Texas Rangers, Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs and Houston Astros for Sports Illustrated/FanNation. He also covers he Big 12 for Heartland College Sports.

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Assignment Russia

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Becoming a foreign correspondent in the crucible of the cold war.

A personal journey through some of the darkest moments of the cold war and the early days of television news

Marvin Kalb, the award-winning journalist who has written extensively about the world he reported on during his long career, now turns his eye on the young man who became that journalist. Chosen by legendary broadcaster Edward R. Murrow to become one of what came to be known as the Murrow Boys, Kalb in this newest volume of his memoirs takes readers back to his first days as a journalist, and what also were the first days of broadcast news.

Kalb captures the excitement of being present at the creation of a whole new way of bringing news immediately to the public. And what news. Cold War tensions were high between Eisenhower’s America and Khrushchev’s Soviet Union. Kalb is at the center, occupying a unique spot as a student of Russia tasked with explaining Moscow to Washington and the American public. He joins a cast of legendary figures along the way, from Murrow himself to Eric Severeid, Howard K. Smith, Richard Hottelet, Charles Kuralt, and Daniel Schorr among many others. He finds himself assigned as Moscow correspondent of CBS News just as the U2 incident—the downing of a US spy plane over Russian territory—is unfolding.

As readers of his first volume, The Year I Was Peter the Great , will recall, being the right person, in the right place, at the right time found Kalb face to face with Khrushchev. Assignment Russia sees Kalb once again an eyewitness to history—and a writer and analyst who has helped shape the first draft of that history.

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Assignment Russia Book Events

• April 9: Politics & Prose LIVE! Marvin Kalb—Assignment Russia: Becoming a Foreign Corresponding in the Crucible of the Cold War – with Jake Tapper
• April 13: National Press Club Virtual Book Event —Marvin Kalb, Assignment Russia
• April 15: Brookings Event —Assignment Russia: A conversation on journalism and the Cold War
• April 29: Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy Event —Assignment Russia: Becoming a Foreign Correspondent in the Crucible of the Cold War
• May 25: George Washington University —Assignment Russia: Becoming a Foreign Correspondent in the Crucible of the Cold War

Praise for Assignment Russia

“It is impossible to put this engrossing book down—it illuminates so many dark corners of the Cold War. With a master correspondent’s insight, skepticism, sensitivity, and great clarity, Kalb brings vividly to life all the hopes and fears of the most consequential foe this nation has had.” —Ken Burns, filmmaker

“A fascinating memoir of Marvin Kalb’s Cold War adventures as he sought to penetrate the mysteries of Nikita Khrushchev’s Soviet Russia while building his career as one of broadcast journalism’s legends.” —Jack Matlock, U.S. ambassador to Russia (1987–1991)

“Marvin Kalb’s engaging Assignment Russia is like Hamilton’s ‘The Room Where It Happens.’ It is a delightful narrative of Kalb’s personal encounters with some of the most famous characters of the 1950s and 1960s, like CBS’s legendary Edward R. Murrow, who hired Kalb, or Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, who nicknamed him ‘Peter the Great.’ It is also an engrossing memoir of a foreign correspondent’s adventures in the enemy camp during the Cold War. I loved it, I learned from it, and, I dare say, had fun reading it.” —Lesley Stahl, co-anchor, CBS’s 60 Minutes

“Marvin Kalb’s great new book Assignment Russia is a rollicking and engaging memoir that takes you to the front lines of the Cold War, to a mic in the early days of broadcast news, and into the mind and career of one of ‘Murrow’s Boys.’ It’s an important book from a legend in journalism, a book you can’t put down.” —Jake Tapper, CNN anchor and chief Washington correspondent

“A nostalgic treat for older readers…a wake-up call for younger ones.” —Edward Kosner, The Wall Street Journal

“Kalb’s fond, generous memoir, which vividly delineates a bygone era of early journalism, will appeal to students of 20th-century American history as well as aspiring broadcast journalists. The author was involved in many significant Cold War moments, and he brings us directly into that world. Hopefully Kalb is back at his desk; readers will be eager for the next volume.” — Kirkus Reviews

“Readers should be forewarned that once they pick up the book, it will be hard to put it down until they reach the end.” —Naseer Ahmad, Pakistan Link

Marvin Kalb is a former senior adviser to the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, a Harvard Professor emeritus, former network news correspondent at NBC and CBS, senior fellow nonresident at the Brookings Institution, and author of 16 other books, the most recent of which is the first volume of his memoirs, The Year I Was Peter the Great (Brookings).

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Wall Street Journal Reporter Reaches 6 Months in Russian Detention

Evan Gershkovich’s father says “the feeling of helplessness is quite horrific,” but the family clings to hope.

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By Anushka Patil

• Sept. 29, 2023

Six months after Evan Gershkovich was arrested by Russian security services, accused of espionage and sent to a notoriously harsh Moscow prison, his family is steeling for an indeterminable wait.

From their home city of Philadelphia, his parents and sister wait for updates from Mr. Gershkovich’s employer, The Wall Street Journal, whose lawyers are fighting his case in a Moscow court. They wait for news from the group of high-level White House officials working to negotiate his release. They wait for their deliveries of Mr. Gershkovich’s handwritten letters from prison.

And they wait for their son and brother to come home.

The imprisonment of Mr. Gershkovich, an American citizen detained by Russia on March 29 while he was on a reporting trip in the city of Yekaterinburg, has underscored the near-collapse of the relationship between Washington and Moscow. Mr. Gershkovich faces up to 20 years in prison on espionage charges that he, the U.S. government and The Wall Street Journal have vehemently denied. The United States has said he is wrongfully detained .

A prisoner exchange, such as the one that secured the release of the American basketball star Brittney Griner late last year, will not be considered until after a verdict is reached in Mr. Gershkovich’s case, Russian officials have said. In the meantime, a court has twice extended his pretrial detention, which will last at least through Nov. 30.

“We are in complete darkness, as far as the future,” Mikhail Gershkovich, the journalist’s father, said in an interview this week alongside his wife, Ella Milman, and daughter, Danielle Gershkovich. “The feeling of helplessness is quite horrific.”

But Mr. Gershkovich’s letters have shown that he is keeping his spirits up, his parents said, so they try to do the same.

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Anthony rizzo homers, plays first in rehab start that may lead to quicker yankees injury return.

WASHINGTON — Anthony Rizzo advanced to playing first base earlier than expected Tuesday night, starting in the field for the first time in the third game of his rehab assignment with Double-A Somerset.

The Yankees veteran, coming back from a right forearm fracture, had initially been expected to continue DH-ing Tuesday and Wednesday, then potentially mix in action at first base this weekend.

But he was a late switch from DH on Tuesday after apparently proving he was ready for the field, playing four innings at first base and going 2-for-2 with a home run.

Anthony Rizzo homer! pic.twitter.com/yT0M2d3ts4 — Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) August 27, 2024

Manager Aaron Boone had said Friday that Rizzo wouldn’t need “that much time playing the field,” but his rehab assignment was more about getting regular at-bats after being out since mid-June.

That Rizzo was already playing first base in his third game left the door open for him returning earlier than expected — perhaps as soon as this weekend.

Ben Rice, who has cooled off after a hot start to his big league career replacing Rizzo, is the likely candidate to be optioned once Rizzo is ready, but Boone said Tuesday, “We’ll cross that bridge when we get there.”

DJ LeMahieu has also continued to struggle at the plate and had a costly error at first base in Tuesday’s 4-2 loss to the Nationals.

Rizzo’s return likely would move him to a bench role.

Jon Berti (calf strain) also played in his third rehab game Tuesday, starting at third base and going 0-for-3. He is expected to need a longer rehab stint than Rizzo after being out since late May.

A night after homering and picking off a runner at second base, Austin Wells was on the bench with Jose Trevino starting against left-hander Patrick Corbin before pinch hitting once the Nationals went to the bullpen in the seventh.

Wells ended the night with a single and a walk.

Boone said Wells would start Wednesday against left-hander MacKenzie Gore (whom left-handed hitters have hit better than Corbin), making it two out of three starts for the rookie in a series against three lefty starters.

“[Wells is] playing against lefties,” Boone said. “But the other guy’s really good, too. Trevy’s an All-Star-level catcher. He’s going to play some, too. I feel like we’re just in great hands with the position.”

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Luis Gil (lower back strain) threw a live batting practice session Tuesday at Somerset, continuing to ramp up in hopes of missing just the minimum 15 days on the injured list.

If he comes out of it well, he could be in line to make a rehab start this weekend before potentially returning next week.

Ian Hamilton (lat strain) made his second rehab appearance with Somerset, throwing 1 ¹/₃ scoreless innings with three strikeouts.

After taking a knee to the head Monday night while diving into second base, Anthony Volpe was back in the lineup Tuesday, as was Alex Verdugo, who slammed into the wall to make a catch.

“Did a lot of really good things last night, paid the price for it a little bit physically,” Boone said. “But yeah, good to see those guys back and ready to go today.”

The Twins claimed Michael Tonkin off waivers from the Yankees on Tuesday, two days after the reliever was designated for assignment.

“We obviously hated to lose him,” Boone said. “I’m happy for him that he got picked up, especially with a contender. Minnesota got themselves a good pitcher.”

The Yankees optioned outfielder Duke Ellis to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Tuesday after claiming him off waivers Monday.

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