Bloomberg has taken disciplinary action against journalists involved in prematurely publishing a story on the historic prisoner swap that brought Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovish and other Americans home after being wrongfully detained in Russia, calling it a "clear violation" of editorial standards that could have put their freedom in jeopardy.
Last week, Bloomberg beat the WSJ and other publications with news of the pending historic prisoner swap but ultimately updated its story to indicate "an earlier version of this story was corrected to reflect that the Americans have not been released yet."
Once the hostages were safely returned, New York magazine reported Bloomberg was in hot water with the White House and other media organizations for breaking a news "embargo" and prematurely reporting on the release. The report detailed that "news organizations were asked by the White House to hold their stories until Gershkovich et al. were in U.S. custody," but Bloomberg ran its story before that was confirmed.
According to the report, news organizations were told for their awareness that a swap was underway but to hold off on publication until the prisoners' safety was firmly established. Such emargoes and agreements on many kinds of stories are commonplace in the media landscape and allow news organizations to better prepare their coverage.
WSJ REPORTER EVAN GERSHKOVICH RELEASED BY RUSSIA IN PRISONER SWAP; PAUL WHELAN ALSO BEING FREED
For instance, the president's State of the Union address is often released to media outlets ahead of time but is embargoed until the speech begins. It is considered a severe breach of media norms to break a news embargo.
Former prisoner held by Russia US journalist Evan Gershkovich waves as he arrives at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on August 1, 2024. (ROBERTO SCHMIDT / AFP via Getty Images)
"According to multiple sources at the Journal and other major outlets, the Bloomberg scoop left journalists and government officials fuming. With a prisoner swap, you don’t know if it’s going to happen until it happens," New York magazine reporter Charlotte Klein wrote.
Klein reported that Bloomberg senior White House reporter Jennifer Jacobs, who was one of the two authors of the original piece, was fired as part of the action taken by management. Bloomberg declined comment on Jacobs’ status. Jacobs didn't respond to a request for comment but posted a vague statement on X; an email sent to her Bloomberg account bounced back.
Bloomberg editor in chief John Micklethwait addressed the situation on Monday in a memo to staffers obtained by Fox News Digital.
"Last Thursday, we prematurely published a story on the release of Evan Gershkovich and the other prisoners, which could have endangered the negotiated swap that set them free. Even if our story mercifully ended up making no difference, it was a clear violation of the editorial standards which have made this newsroom trusted around the world," Micklethwait wrote.
"Following a full investigation over the past few days by our Standards editor, we have today taken disciplinary action against a number of those involved, and we will be reviewing our editorial process to ensure that failures like this don’t happen again," Micklethwait continued. "I have also written personally to apologize to each of the prisoners."
WSJ REPORTER EVAN GERSHKOVICH ASKED FOR PUTIN INTERVIEW UPON RELEASE FROM RUSSIAN PRISON
This image released by the White House shows Evan Gershkovich, left, Alsu Kurmasheva, right, and Paul Whelan, second from right, and others aboard a plane, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024, following their release from Russian captivity. (White House via AP)
Micklethwait wrote that he also apologized to Wall Street Journal editor-in-chief Emma Tucker because "given the Wall Street Journal’s tireless efforts on their reporter’s behalf, this was clearly their story to lead the way on."
"We publish thousands of stories every day, many of which break news. We take accuracy very seriously. But we also have a responsibility to do the right thing. In this case we didn’t," he concluded.
On Monday afternoon, Jacobs posted on X that she was "so happy Evan Gershkovich and others are home" but didn't mention her employment status. She added the notion she would jeopardize another reporter's safety was "deeply upsetting."
"In reporting the story about Evan's release, I worked hand in hand with my editors to adhere to editorial standards and guidelines. At no time did I do anything that was knowingly inconsistent with the administration's embargo or that would put anyone involved at risk," Jacobs wrote.
"Reporters don't have the final say over when a story is published or with what headline. The chain of events here could happen to any reporter tasked with reporting the news," she continued. "This is why checks and balances exist within the editorial process."
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