Lina Attalah
publisher Mada Masr
Will Church
director media freedom programmes TRF
Chile Eboe-Osuji
distinguished international jurist Toronto Metropolitan University
Jodie Ginsberg
CEO Committee to Protect Journalists
Joel Simon
founding director Journalism Protection Initiative
Antonio Zappulla
CEO Thomson Reuters Foundation
As the war on journalism rages on, the weapons used to attack journalists and undermine free speech are rapidly expanding and evolving. Increasingly, the law is being weaponised around the globe to compromise journalists’ safety and censor their reporting. And, in today’s landscape, journalists often face these legal threats alone, without the protection or visibility of well-resourced media houses or the financial ability to pay for a good lawyer.
Join the launch of the Thomson Reuters Foundation (TRF) and Columbia University’s Press Freedom Legal Trends Report, a first-of-its-kind report that identifies key legal threats to independent journalism worldwide. The presentation of the report will be followed by a panel of leading media defence experts to discuss the report’s findings and shed light on the most serious, and often lesser-known legal threats affecting media freedom. The discussion will also explore how legal support and resources are evolving and expanding to better protect journalists and the wider media ecosystem from these threats – including through the Legal Network for Journalists at Risk.
Session format: presentation of the TRF-Columbia research in a two-way conversation between Antonio Zappulla and Joel Simon (25 minutes) followed by a panel discussion (35 minutes) centered on the ways to offer solutions to the problems highlighted in the report.
Organised in association with Thomson Reuters Foundation.
