Bloomberg Disciplines Several Staffers Over Broken Embargo on Russia Prisoner Swap

Bloomberg has disciplined multiple staffers after the outlet broke an embargo on the news of the prisoner swap that involved the United States and Russia, according to a New York Times reporter.

“Last Thursday, we prematurely published a story on the release of Evan Gershkovich and other prisoners, which could have endangered the negotiated swap that set them free,” Bloomberg EIC John Micklethwait wrote in a staff memo obtained by Katie Robertson. “Even if our story mercifully ended up making no difference, it was a clear violation of the editorial standards which have made this newsroom so trusted around the world.”

Micklethwait’s memo did not disclose who was responsible, or how many staffers had faced disciplinary action.

“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 processes to ensure that failures like this don’t happen again,” he wrote. “I have also written personally to apologize to each of the prisoners (and we are in the process of delivering those letters).”

Micklethwait also conceded that The Wall Street Journal, for whom Evan Gershkovich was working when he was arrested in Russia and charged with espionage, should have had first position on the story.

“I apologized immediately on Thursday to [WSJ Editor in Chief] Emma Tucker; 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.”

The White House confirmed on Thursday that Russia had agreed to free Gershkovich, former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan and others in a multi-country swap. But by then the cat was out of the bag, as Bloomberg posted its story ahead of the news embargo.

Gershkovich was arrested in March 2023 for espionage, which U.S. officials have repeatedly said was a false charge. The 32-year-old underwent a hasty, secretive trial and was sentenced to 16 years in a high-security penal colony. Whelan had been in prison since 2018. The former Marine, who also holds British, Irish and Canadian citizenship, was also accused of espionage while traveling in Russia on an American passport, convicted in 2020 and sentenced to 16 years.

Along with Whelan and Gershkovich, journalists Alsu Kurmasheva and Vladimir Kara-Murza were also released.

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