Overview
The last decade has seen a drastic deterioration in media freedom. In many countries, laws have been weaponised against independent journalism, leaving media organisations and journalists vulnerable to legal attacks that aim to silence critical reporting.
Our Legal Service for Independent Media offers tailored support to equip journalists, newsrooms and media freedom focused non-profits to counter these threats and strengthen their resilience and sustainability. This service draws on the expertise of our global pro bono legal network, TrustLaw, and on our experience training journalists around the world for over 40 years.
What we offer
Our free service aims to empower independent media to build their awareness of relevant legal frameworks, mitigate operational vulnerabilities and defend themselves against harassment and ‘lawfare’ attacks safely and effectively. The provision of our Legal Service is subject to meeting our eligibility criteria.
We offer five core legal services that work to promote media freedom.
Legal advice and guidance
We can connect your organisation with leading law firms to support with legal issues arising from day-to-day operations. Examples include:
- Addressing issues such as data protection due diligence or foreign funding requirements, to mitigate the risk of abusive lawsuits (often known as “SLAPPS”).
- Assisting exiled media to register in new jurisdictions.
- Advice around governance structures to maximise revenue and sustainability.
Legal health checks
We can deliver legal health checks (LHCs) to assess your organisation’s resilience to legal threats. LHCs help you identify relevant legal matters and highlight issues that may require legal input. Following a LHC, we can also connect eligible newsrooms with law firms to resolve any legal issues that were identified and can offer additional training on legal topics and mitigation strategies relevant to your specific location and context.
Practical legal tools, resources and guides
We publish a range of legal tools and resources to support journalists and newsrooms. These are publicly available and can cover topics such as pre-publication review, defamation, journalistic sources, reporting on protests and media freedom laws in different jurisdictions.
We also co-create tools, resources and guides with non-profit media freedom organisations to support their legal needs and advocacy objectives. Our resources are available in a range of languages.
Customised support
Depending on needs and donor funding, we can deliver customised programming in particular countries or regions, or to specific groups of journalists and newsrooms. For example, we currently provide legal mentoring to media in exile communities in Europe and pre-publication review for cohorts of small and mid-size newsrooms in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Referrals to the Legal Network for Journalists at Risk (LNJAR)
As a founding member of the LNJAR, we can refer independent newsrooms or individual journalists to the Network for specialist legal counsel, including legal defence, trial monitoring, strategic litigation and redress for rights violations. With over 18 member organisations, we can facilitate co-ordinated defensive action to counter threats of SLAPPs and allegations around issues such as defamation or national security.
Our impact
The confidence and due diligence excellence that this pro bono work has given to Women’s Voices Now is priceless. We wouldn’t be where we are today without all of the projects provided by generous and brilliant attorneys that were connected to us through the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
The legal advice enabled us to continue our journalism with confidence and to publish a vital investigation series which informed critical public debates on corruption.
The Thomson Reuters Foundation’s legal training has sharpened my skills in handling stories… It also made me brave to pursue stories that I have been shying away from, since I now know how to defend myself.
The value of pro bono for media: InSight Crime
InSight Crime is an award-winning non-profit newsroom that seeks to deepen and inform the debate about organised crime in Latin America by providing regular reporting, analysis, field investigations and policy…
The value of pro bono for media: Women’s Voices Now
Women’s Voices Now (WVN) is a US-based non-profit organisation that uses the power of film to drive social change that advances girls’ and women’s rights. The group champions films made by women, about women,…
Resources
Legal Threats Against Lawyers Protecting Journalists: Preliminary Findings
As ‘lawfare’ against…
Understanding Defamation Laws in South Africa
When applied legitimately, defamation laws are intended to protect…
Understanding Civil Defamation Laws in Germany
When applied legitimately, defamation laws are intended to protect…
Understanding the laws on journalistic sources in Zambia
This Guide provides journalists with a practical…
Understanding Defamation Laws in Kenya
When applied legitimately, defamation laws are intended to protect individuals and…
Movement of Personal Protective Equipment
This guide is intended to provide user-friendly, practical guidance to…
Understanding the laws on journalist sources in Germany
German Basic Law guarantees fundamental rights and…
Understanding Defamation Laws in Brazil
When applied legitimately, defamation laws are intended to protect individuals…
Know Your Rights Guide for Journalists in India
This guide is intended to provide user-friendly, practical guidance…
Understanding the Laws Relating to “Fake News” in Russia
This guide is intended to…
