Global Investigative Journalism Network (https://archive.gijn.org/tag/slapp/)
Предварительная программа GIJC23 предлагает журналистам-расследователям около 200 семинаров, мастер-классов с экспертами, дискуссий, возможностей для нетворкинга и специальных мероприятий.
The practice of independent journalism is facing enormous challenges, ranging from authoritarian regimes implementing regressive laws that stifle speech to journalists being unable to make a living from their work. In order to meet those challenges, journalists can benefit from understanding the protections provided by international law.
The Greek wiretapping story has become an international scandal. But for months, the only outlets covering the story were small independent ones like Reporters United, whose dogged reporting has shaken up the country’s media landscape.
British lawyer Elizabeth Wiggin has defended investigative journalists from legal challenges in the UK courts and she describes the legal threats, humiliation, and financial ruin that reporters can face while covering stories the rich and powerful do not want published.
Latin American journalists have faced threats, attacks, and court proceedings just for doing their work. In a GIJN webinar, three leading investigative reporters recounted their experiences and gave their tips on how to face up to these challenges.
पूरी दुनिया में इन दिनों पत्रकार आधारहीन मुकदमों का लगातार सामना कर रहे हैं। यह मुकदमे SLAPPs (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) पत्रकारों और अन्य ऐसे लोगों पर नकेल कसने लादे गये हैं जो शक्तिशाली व्यक्तियों या ताकतवर कम्पनियों या व्यापारियों के व्यवहार पर आलोचनात्मक टिप्पणिया करते हैं। एक पत्रकार या मानवाधिकार रक्षक पर मुकदमे दबाव डालने के लिए लाए जाते हैं, न कि अधिकार को साबित करने के लिए। यह मुक़दमें प्रायः बेकार, तुच्छ या अतिरंजित दावों पर आधारित होते हैं।
Among the most frequently used forms of legal coercion against investigative journalists are SLAPPs (“strategic litigation against public participation”), which aim to intimidate reporters into abandoning their investigations. The practice of abusing legal systems by those in power to silence critics has reached global proportions. Its damage is far-reaching and curbing it is an imperative for democracy and maintaining peace.
DOSSIER, an Austrian outlet that is a member center of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, has been able to offset the financial challenges experienced by many media outlets in Austria — and combat a series of vexatious lawsuits — thanks to its membership program.
The Biden White House spotlighted its support for investigative journalism as part of a new strategy for fighting corruption around the world. To strengthen the investigative capacity of journalists, it is funding the USAID’s PROSAFE project, helping to “create a regional clearinghouse for investigative journalism that provides a publishing outlet for stories too dangerous to be published with an individual byline, and providing an umbrella organization for security, mentoring, and collaboration among journalists.”
“There certainly appears to be a worrying trend around the world where powerful companies or public officials attempt to censor public participation on matters of public interest through lawsuits, for instance in the law of defamation,” explained Dario Milo, a South Africa-based attorney who specializes in communication law and is a member of the European Union’s Expert Group on SLAPPs.