Journalists rarely like to talk publicly about the times they’ve been sued. Even uttering the word ‘defamation’ can bring back stress-filled memories of expensive lawyers’ letters, threatening to take you to court unless you pay untold sums in damages.
For small, non-profit media outlets like openDemocracy, the risks are even higher. Losing one court case could literally put us out of business.
But there comes a time when journalists need to speak up about specific legal threats they’ve faced. And we believe that, for us, the time is now.
