NJ Spotlight News Produces “Free Evan” News Special on Anniversary of Journalist Evan Gershkovich’s Arrest in Russia this Friday, March 29 at 6:30 p.m. on NJ PBS

March 28, 2024 - NEWARK, NJ - NJ PBS's newsroom will produce a special edition of its weeknight broadcast, NJ Spotlight News with Briana Vannozzi, on the one-year anniversary of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich's imprisonment while on assignment in Russia. The "Free Evan" news special will broadcast and stream Friday, March 29 at 6:30 p.m., 7:30 p.m. and 11 p.m. on NJ PBS (check local listings). It will be available online at NJSpotlightnews.org and on the newsroom's social media outposts, and available as a podcast on all major platforms.

"This is an incredibly important story for journalists and the public alike," said NJ Spotlight News Senior Managing Editor Jamie Kraft. "The stakes are high not just for Evan, but for our freedom of the press."

Gershkovich, a Princeton native, is the first American journalist to be detained by Russian authorities since the Cold War, arrested on a charge of espionage. It is a charge that he, the Journal and the US government vehemently deny. The 32-year-old was accredited by Russia's Foreign Ministry to work as a reporter for the Journal's Moscow bureau at the time he was taken into custody. The U.S. Department of State immediately declared it a "wrongful detention" and continues to demand his release.

The half-hour NJ Spotlight News special evaluates the case with experts and those close to Gershkovich. Anchor Briana Vannozzi interviews two of Gershkovich's best friends that are behind a "Free Evan" effort; she also talks to former US Ambassador to Russia under the Obama Administration Michael McFaul about the journalist's detainment and prospects of release. Correspondent Ted Goldberg heads to Princeton where Gershkovich grew up to hear from his former teachers, coaches and the editor of the school paper where he once worked, which is now covering his story. Senior Correspondent Brenda Flanagan sits down with fellow journalists to reflect on Evan's mission in Moscow and the swell of global determination to "Free Evan."

In the year since his apprehension, Gershkovich has been held at Lefortovo, a Stalin-era prison in Moscow, with his pre-trial detention extended several times. The most recent extension was handed down this week and will run through at least June 30th. If convicted, he could face up to 20 years in a Russian prison.

NJ Spotlight News is an award-winning multiplatform news organization that provides reporting from across all 21 counties in New Jersey and beyond through a weeknight newscast, NJ Spotlight News with Briana Vannozzi, a robust digital platform, social media, daily newsletters and community engagement events. Learn more at NJSpotlightNews.org.

Major funding for NJ Spotlight News and the NJ Spotlight News with Briana Vannozzi newscast is provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the William Penn Foundation, The New Jersey Civic Information Consortium, PSEG Foundation, the Fund for New Jersey, The Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey, The Schumann Fund for New Jersey, RWJBarnabas Health, NJM Insurance Group, New Jersey Education Association, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of NJ, New Jersey Realtors and Wyncote Foundation.