Coverage of the release of Israeli-Russian Elizabeth Tsurkov, a Princeton doctoral student who was kidnapped in Iraq in 2023, started with a tip from a trusted source to Justice Department reporter Eric Tucker, who for two years had covered the case of the Israeli-Russian academic. As AP was about to push out its alert, President Donald Trump announced the news on his own social media account — but the fact that AP already had the info in hand ahead of Trump’s announcement meant that we were able to be far ahead of the competition.
Key to the story was the global coordination among bureaus in several locations. Reporters Qassim Abdul-Zahra, Abby Sewell and Melanie Lidman helped immediately — despite it being late at night in the Middle East — with essential context about the geopolitical situation and the backdrop against which this release unfolded. Tucker used his personal connections in covering this case to speak exclusively with Tsurkov’s sister, ensuring AP’s story alone had a personal touch and vibrant color and quotes about the moment she found out the good news. The story also was accompanied by a photograph that Tucker took in Washington two years ago while meeting Tsurkov’s sister, Emma.
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