UPDATE: Bloomberg News Reportedly Fires Staffer Who Broke Embargo On Russian Prisoner Swap

AP Photo/Dmitry Serebryakov, File

John Micklethwait, the editor-in-chief of Bloomberg News, announced this week that several members of his newsroom have faced “disciplinary action” for breaking an embargo related to the release of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich in a prisoner exchange deal with Russia. New York Magazine’s Charlotte Klein reported soon after that Jennifer Jacobs, Bloomberg’s White House correspondent whose byline was on the report, was fired.

“Jennifer Jacobs—one of the two Bloomberg reporters who bylined the embargo-breaking Gershkovich piece—has been fired, according to a source familiar with the situation,” Klein posted to X.

Jacobs released a statement on X, firing back at the notion that she acted alone in breaking the embargo. “As a journalist, the idea that I would jeopardize the safety of a fellow reporter is deeply upsetting on a level that’s difficult to describe. I am so happy Evan Gershkovich and the others are home,” Jacobs wrote, adding:

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.

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. This is why checks and balances exist within the editorial processes. I deeply respect the Wall Street Journal and all of the work they did to bring one of their own home.

I am proud to be part of the journalism profession and have great admiration for my fellow reporters that do this important work.

Last week’s prisoner exchange dominated the news and was the cause of much celebration in the U.S. as Gershkovich, former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, and others wrongly imprisoned in Putin’s Russia were freed the exchange. Bloomberg was the first major outlet to break to news, which was later understood to have been due to a violation of an embargo agreement with the White House in order to protect the complex 24-person exchange.

Micklethwait wrote to staff, “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 so trusted around the world,” he continued in a statement obtained by Katie Robertson of the New York Times, adding:

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. I have also written personally to apologize to each of the prisoners (and we are in the process of delivering those letters).

I apologized immediately on Thursday to 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. John

Read the statement here.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated with the report of Jacobs’s being fired from Bloomberg.