In September, CFOM will launch their seminar series. The CFOM seminar series will feature speakers talking about issues concerning journalism safety and media freedom. The seminar series will be hosted online. Below you can find information on our speakers along with a sign up link. We look forward to seeing you there!
LEGAL THREATS AGAINST JOURNALISTS
Legal consultant and editor of McNae’s Essential Law for Journalists, Gill Phillips, discusses current threats to journalists
In the first of the Centre for Freedom of the Media’s (CFOM) online seminar series, legal consultant Gill Phillips talks about existential and practical threats to journalists and journalism including issues surrounding AI, social media and fake news. Gill will also discuss legal issues that journalists face including Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation, censorship and source protection.
Gill joined the BBC from private practice in 1987. She dealt with all the pre- and post- transmission aspects of broadcasting, including advising programme departments (both TV and Radio) on a whole range of pre- and post- publication media law-issues including libel, contempt, court-reporting, disclosure of sources, breach of confidence and the Official Secrets Act. She then moved to the The Sun and the News of the World, and later to the Times and Sunday Times dealing with pre-publication issues and post publication complaints and claims. Gill moved to Guardian News & Media as the Director of Editorial Legal in May 2009, where she advised on phone-hacking, Wikileaks, the Leveson Inquiry, the NSA leaks from Edward Snowden and many other data leak and investigative series. She retired as GNM’s Editorial Legal Director in June 2023, and remains as a legal consultant for them. She is a co-editor for the 27th Edition of McNae’s Essential Law for Journalists, due out in 2024.
DEFENDING THE MEDIA’S VITAL DEMOCRATIC ROLE IN EUROPE
Jessica White, Senior Research Analyst at Freedom House, discusses Freedom House’s recent report Reviving News Media in an Embattled Europe
Amid the twin forces of democratic backsliding and digital disruption, news outlets are having to find new ways to sustain and defend independent reporting. This seminar will delve into findings from Freedom House’s most recent report, Reviving News Media in an Embattled Europe. Based on a series of interviews with journalists and media experts in Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, and Poland, lead researcher Jessica White shines a light on the strategies that independent newsrooms are developing to address issues of financial viability, engage younger and more diverse audiences, promote trust, and defend themselves against threats that undermine and stifle their work. These responses can inform broader policy approaches to reviving news media’s role as a core component of a healthy democracy.
Jessica White leads research for Freedom House’s new stream of work on Media and Democracy, with a focus on Europe. She formerly served as research analyst for Freedom on the Net, Freedom House’s annual survey of internet freedom in 70 countries around the world. Prior to joining Freedom House, Jessica supported international engagement and programming at the Royal Society of Arts in London, the British Embassy in Madrid and the National Democratic Institute in Washington, DC. She holds a master’s degree in international development from Sciences Po in Paris.