Dow Jones CEO: At tough moment for press, hysteria doesn't help
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Dow Jones CEO Almar Latour and Axios' Sara Fischer. Photo: Dani Ammann Photography on behalf of Axios
News publisher Dow Jones is working to avoid hysterics and invest in trusted journalism amid rising concerns about U.S. press freedom, CEO Almar Latour told Axios' Sara Fischer during an event on Wednesday in Davos, Switzerland.
Why it matters: The Wall Street Journal's parent company is quite familiar with press freedom issues after reporter Evan Gershkovich spent 16 months behind bars in Russia, and as it campaigns for other imprisoned journalists.
What he's saying: "I think we should take it with a cool head and one step at a time. I don't think hysteria or a crystal ball gazing helps in that regard," Latour said when asked about concerns over the leveraging of criminal law to go after U.S. journalists.
- "We've got a top-notch legal team. But a lot of this also starts with the reporting has got to be unimpeachable. It's got to be unbiased. It's got to be reliable and so investing in that and making sure that our standards, our values, including free press, are honored every day and that trust is earned every day."
Flashback: After Gershkovich was imprisoned, the Journal ran a far-reaching campaign to bring him home. The company shared regular updates on social media, ran advertisements, provided "I Stand With Evan" shirts and "Free Evan" pins to employees and more.
- "We basically set up an internal company that focused on Evan's release, communications being a critical part of that, a big legal arm. Where we needed additional legal help, we got outside legal help. We conducted quiet diplomacy, public diplomacy," Latour said.
- Last year, Dow Jones brought Gershkovich's parents, Ella Milman and Mikhail Gershkovich, to Davos to advocate for his release.
- "You do not understand what this is unless you look somebody in the eye and see the suffering that the hostage taking causes," Latour said.
What's next: Dow Jones is still actively supporting press freedom cases. On Wednesday, Latour cited the Committee to Protect Journalists' recent report that an estimated 361 journalists are imprisoned worldwide.
- "We still talk about press freedom with some regularity, mainly with chief legal counsel and myself, [WSJ EIC] Emma [Tucker], but we also sadly have been prompted to focus on new cases that makes this very important," Latour said.
- "We put a spotlight on Jimmy Lai, for example, in Hong Kong quite frequently," he added, referring to the founder of pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily who has been behind bars since 2020.
