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What We Do
Emergency Defence
We fund legal defence for journalists and independent media across the world.
Strategic Litigation
We take on strategic cases to promote and improve media freedom.
Capacity Building
We build local legal capacity to defend journalists through legal training and by funding local legal centres to defend journalists.
What’s new
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Media Defence Condemns Detention of Lawyer and Human Rights Defender Ruth López in El Salvador
Media Defence condemns the arrest of Ruth López, Chief Legal Officer at the human rights organisation Cristosal in El Salvador. López is a renowned lawyer and human rights defender. Her work exposing corruption and human rights abuses has earned national and international recognition, including being named one of the BBC’s 100 most inspiring women of…
UN Working Group finds Viet Nam is Unlawfully Detaining Journalist Nguyễn Lân Thắng
In an Opinion published in late 2024, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD) held that the detention of independent journalist Nguyễn Lân Thắng is arbitrary and in contravention of his rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Media Defence represented…
Stronger Together: Working with Funded Partners in 2024
Established in 2009 our Funded Partner programme supports local legal centres worldwide that focus on the defence of journalists.
Press Freedom Is at Risk — Help Us Defend Journalists
When journalism is silenced, power goes unchecked — and people suffer, especially those already marginalised. That’s why Media Defence exists: to protect journalists facing legal threats, so they can keep reporting the truth without fear of retaliation. Since 2008, we’ve supported over 2,000 journalists and independent outlets around the world. But the legal landscape has…