New England Center for Investigative Reporting Executive Director Joe Bergantino said Thursday he will be allowed to leave Russia as scheduled on Saturday after being detained for several hours for allegedly illegally conducting a journalism workshop in St. Petersburg.
Bergantino was a 22-year WBZ-TV veteran and a longtime I-Team reporter. He was also a reporter at ABC News.
Bergantino said he and University of South Carolina journalism professor Randy Covington were detained Thursday by immigration authorities after beginning a two-day training with 14 Russian journalists, part of a series of workshops taking place in St. Petersburg and Moscow.
The two were taken to immigration offices and later a district court where a judge ruled they were guilty of breaking Russian administrative law by illegally conducting an educational workshop with a "targeted tourist visa." The visas they held were the type recommended by the US State Department to do this work. Representatives from the US Consulate accompanied them to the courthouse.
Bergantino, in an interview with WCVB NewsCenter 5, said "it's outrageous that this is happening."
Bergantino said that he and Covington were told they could not continue teaching but were free to leave the country as scheduled.
Bergantino's wife Candy Altman, vice president of news for Hearst Television, said Thursday that she was relieved her husband is being released and "very concerned" about what happened to him Thursday morning.
Bergantino was in Russia as part of a US State Department grant given to the University of South Carolina to train Russian media. Covington was in Russia several months ago under a different component of the same grant, and with the same type of visa, and encountered no problems, said Charles Bierbauer, dean of the College of Mass Communications and Information Studies at the University of South Carolina.
Covington has been in Russia several times and "this is the first time I can recall that we've had any difficulty," said Bierbauer. He said despite strained relations between Russia and the U.S., he had been pleased the workshops had been allowed to go forward.
Bergantino and Covington both have documents the U.S. State Department says they needed.
Bergatino was released Thursday with a warning from a judge and told not to continue the workshop.
The judge told Bergantino that if he wants to do any educational workshops in the future, he will need a special invitation and visa.
Former WBZ Reporter Joe Bergantino Detained in Russia
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