The 2026-27 Daniel Pearl Memorial Lecture: Bearing Witness: A Free Press in an Age of Authoritarianism
Evan Gershkovich, foreign correspondent, The Wall Street Journal
Monday, October 5, 20264:30 PM (Pacific Time)
Carnesale Commons, Palisades Room
251 Charles E. Young Drive West
Los Angeles, CA 90095
ABOUT THE LECTURE
What does it mean to bear witness when authoritarian governments seek to suppress independent journalism and criminalize the pursuit of truth?
In this year's Daniel Pearl Memorial Lecture, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich draws on his book, This Cursed Beautiful Land, to reflect on his years reporting from Russia, his arrest by Russian security forces in 2023, and his nearly 500 days of imprisonment before his release in a landmark prisoner exchange. Through his extraordinary experience, Gershkovich examines the role of journalism in documenting authoritarian power, preserving historical truth, and revealing realities that would otherwise remain hidden. In the spirit of Daniel Pearl's legacy of curiosity, empathy, and bridge-building, he explores the ethical responsibilities of journalists and explains why a free press remains essential to democratic accountability and liberty.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Evan Gershkovich is a foreign correspondent for The Wall Street Journal based in Berlin. Born in New Jersey to Soviet émigrés, he lived in Russia for over five years before his 2023 arrest and subsequent sixteen-month imprisonment on false espionage charges. His writing has also appeared in The New York Times, The Economist and Foreign Policy, and he was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2025 as part of an investigative team for The Journal. Evan Gershkovich is the recipient of a MacDowell Fellowship.
ABOUT THE MODERATOR
Kal Raustiala is the Promise Institute Distinguished Professor of Comparative and International Law at UCLA Law School and Professor at the UCLA International Institute. He currently serves as Director of the UCLA Ronald W. Burkle Center for International Relations and Director of the International and Comparative Law Program. A life member of the Council on Foreign Relations, he is a Senior Fellow at the Pacific Council for International Policy.
PARKING INFORMATION
Parking Structure 7 is about a 5 minute walk from Carnesale Commons. Please note that you must purchase event parking prior to the event for $18. The structure is located at 336 Charles E. Young Dr. North.
Click on this Bruin ePermit site link and select "UCLA Campus Event." Click on "Daniel Pearl Memorial Lecture." Select Parking Structure 7 and "Add to Basket." You will then be prompted to enter your car's plate number, make and model.
If you have a personalized plate with less than seven characters, a special character within your plate (heart, star, etc.), a dash in your license plate, or a blank space; you will skip the special character, dash, or blank space; and enter the remaining characters on the plate.
If you have a DP, Veteran, or Dealer plate, please include any leading or trailing characters such as DP, VA, DLR in the license plate number. Do not include spaces between the designation and license plate characters. (eg. "DPBRUIN", "DLR99991A")
If your vehicle is registered in the State of California, the state requires two plates to be displayed, one in front and one in back of the vehicle. If you have a back-facing plate only, please park head-in so that the Bruin ePermit system can read your registered license plate from the aisle. Failure to park so that the license plate is visible from the aisle or parking without the correct license plate attached to your permit, may result in a citation.
Proceed to checkout and put in your email address for "Guest Checkout." You will then be prompted to enter your credit card or banking information to pay. Your license plate functions as your permit; you do not need to display anything on your dashboard.
We recommend that you allow at least 15 minutes for parking.
VENUE INFORMATION
Carnesale Commons is located at 251 Charles E. Young Drive West. Click here for walking directions from Parking Stucture 7 to Carnesale Commons.
Enter the building and take the elevator up to the third floor. The Palisades Ballroom is located to your right as you exit the elevator.
GUIDELINES FOR ALL GUESTS
- Arrive early, registration check-in begins at 3:45 PM and doors open at 4:00 PM.
- Bruin E-Permit spaces are available in Parking Structure 7.
- No bulky video equipment or flash photography permitted.
- No food or beverages permitted inside the Palisades Ballroom.
- Details for this event are subject to change.
- Please check our website for last minute details prior to the event.
- Please note that your event registration does not guarantee you a seat. Come early, seats are given out in order of arrivals.
ABOUT THE DANIEL PEARL MEMORIAL LECTURE SERIES
In sponsoring the Daniel Pearl Memorial Lecture Series, the Burkle Center for International Relations celebrates the memory of Daniel Pearl as a prominent journalist who dedicated his life to bringing joy and understanding to the world. Past presenters have included David Remnick of The New Yorker, Leon Wieseltier of The New Republic, Christopher Hitchens, CNN's Anderson Cooper, David Brooks and Thomas Friedman of The New York Times, ABC’s Ted Koppel, CBS’s Jeff Greenfield, NPR's Daniel Schorr, CNN's Larry King, former Secretary of State Dr. Condoleezza Rice, CNN's Christiane Amanpour, Ambassador Samantha Power, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Bret Stephens, CNN's Fareed Zakaria, author and journalist Bob Woodward, CNN's Jake Tapper, French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy, former world chess champion and Russian pro-democracy leader Garry Kasparov, award-winning author and experimental psychologist Steven Pinker, and most recently, Haviv Rettig Gur, Journalist and Senior Analyst at The Times of Israel.
To learn more and support this lecture series, click here.
Sponsor(s): Burkle Center for International Relations, The Daniel Pearl Foundation, Hillel at UCLA