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We address this through

Emergency Defence

We ensure quality legal representation is available to journalists by paying for legal fees, connecting them to a lawyer if they don’t have one, and providing that lawyer with technical legal support. We also ensure that journalists have access to legal remedies when their right to freedom of expression has been violated, for instance if they have become victims of violence or harassment.

Strategic Litigation

We take on strategic cases to challenge unjust laws used to silence journalists and to ensure the law is used to protect rather than persecute them. We seek out cases that offer an opportunity for systemic change (for instance changing a problematic law or practice) that will benefit media freedom.

Capacity Building

We build local legal capacity with a view to providing journalists around the world with an opportunity to access the best possible legal defence. We do this through training lawyers and funding local legal centres that can represent journalists free of charge.

Training

We run regional litigation surgeries to strengthen the capacity of lawyers who defend the media. Currently we do this in East, West and Southern Africa, as well as Latin America and South East Asia.

Funded Partners

We provide financial assistance and practical support to organisations that either have, or wish to establish, a legal aid unit to provide free, high-quality legal support to journalists, citizen journalists, and media outlets facing legal threats because of their reporting.

How We Define Journalism

Journalism is a function shared by a wide range of actors. This includes, but is not limited to, professional full-time journalists and media workers who share information through traditional channels, as well as citizen journalists who may use tools such as the internet and social media for self-publication in print, online or elsewhere.