The NJ Society of Professional Journalists, in cooperation with The Wall Street Journal, will broadcast a live panel discussing the wrongful detention in Russia of NJ-born WSJ journalist Evan Gershkovich at 10 a.m. US EST on Wednesday, February 21.
The live broadcast is free to attend. Registration is required. Audience members will be able to send questions to the panel through a text chat function.
Panelists
Jessie Gomez: Jessie Gomez is a Reporter at Chalkbeat Newark covering Newark Public Schools. She is a proud Latina and first-generation college student with experience covering local communities and Black and Latino communities. Jessie was previously a reporter at The Record/Northjersey.com covering Morris and Bergen County communities in New Jersey. Before that, Jessie had a one-year fellowship at MuckRock, a non-profit news site based in Boston, focused on public records law and FOIA work. Jessie also has experience in political communications, broadcast and digital media.
Paul Beckett: Paul Beckett is Assistant Editor at The Wall Street Journal, where he focuses on the efforts supporting Evan Gershkovich, the WSJ reporter who has been wrongfully detained by Russia since March 2023. Previously, Paul was the Journal’s Washington D.C. bureau chief, responsible for news across politics and government, economics, national security, the Supreme Court, financial regulation and the intersection of business and Washington. Before taking the helm of the bureau in 2017, Paul served in multiple overseas postings, including postings in Honk Kong and India.
Born and bred in Scotland and a graduate of Edinburgh University, Paul joined Dow Jones in 1990 at the Daily News of Newburyport, Mass., then part of Dow Jones’s community newspaper chain. He joined Dow Jones Newswires in 1993 and reported from New York, London, Mexico City and Washington, D.C. He joined the Journal in 1998 in New York, where he covered banking. In 2003, he moved to London as bureau chief and European finance and markets editor.
Michael Van Itallie: Michael Van Itallie is a longtime friend of Evan, having grown up with Evan in New Jersey. Mike and Evan both went to Bowdoin College in Maine and were roommates in New York City up until Evan got his first Russia-based reporting job at The Moscow Times