“If I didn’t have Media Defence’s support, I would have been condemned .”
– Journalist supported by Media Defence in 2022.
In 2022, we carried out our sixth annual Journalist Impact Survey to look at the longer-term impact of our support to journalists. We designed our Journalist Impact Survey to understand the quality of our legal and financial support to journalists. In addition, the survey enables us to gain a greater appreciation of the role of legal defence in ensuring journalists can continue to report. Finally, the survey allows us to test our theory of change: access to legal defence enables journalists to continue reporting and holding governments and authorities to account for the public. As a result, these findings inform our future casework.
The Results
In 2022, we received 22 responses from journalists whose cases – ending in 2022 – we have supported. The journalists come from all of the regions in which we work, and we are pleased with the representation of our geographic reach. We are also pleased with the strong feedback about our communications and legal support.
Key findings include:
- 64% of respondents reported feeling satisfied with the outcome of their case;
- 100% of respondents would recommend our support to other journalists facing legal action; and
- 95% of respondents reported feeling satisfied or extremely satisfied with the lawyer who handled their case.
The survey found that our support and that of our partners was incredibly effective. For 95% of respondents, this support enabled them to continue reporting on public interest issues.
Read the full report here: Journalist Impact Survey 2022
Recent News
The Hungarian Civil Liberties Union and its coordinated fight against the use of Pegasus spyware
Welcome to the latest instalment of our Partners blog series. In this series, we interview our partners from around the world about their critical work in protecting freedom of expression. This time we spoke to Dalma Dojcsák, Executive Director of the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU), about spyware. HCLU is one of Media Defence’s partner organisations. Founded […]
Learning Report 2022
Read our Learning Report 2022 Media Defence values the importance of learning and improvement. We undertake a variety of internal and external evaluations each year in order to understand the effectiveness and relevance of our programmes, ensuring that we learn from the experiences of the lawyers and journalists involved. We also do this to explore […]
Online threats, intimidation and judicial harassment against environmental journalist Alberto Castaño
Alberto Castaño is an environmental journalist supported by our partner Fundación para la Libertad de Prensa (FLIP). FLIP is a non-governmental organisation that promotes press freedom in Colombia. It also oversees the rights of citizens to be informed. Since 1996, FLIP has assisted more than 2000 Colombian journalists at risk. As an environmental journalist working […]