Media organizations throughout the nation are participating in a Day of Action urging the UK Government to incorporate anti-SLAPP safeguards into the upcoming King’s Speech.

Those in journalism did not enter the profession to gear up for courtroom battles. They enter newsrooms, file freedom of information requests, pose inquiries, cover municipal and legal proceedings, and speak with numerous sources because they possess stories to share. They also recognize that local areas thrive when public knowledge expands rather than contracts.

Press work serves as an essential pillar for local democratic processes, enabling authorities to be held responsible and communities to have their voices heard, guaranteeing that no individual escapes examination. Yet unlimited wealth and influence possess a potent instrument in their effort to block questioning and evade unwanted attention: the British legal framework.

Exploitative legal claims, also referred to as SLAPPs (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation), enable affluent parties to initiate expensive and resource-draining legal proceedings to suppress publication or remove already-released material from public view.

These meritless lawsuits do not represent genuine efforts to rectify issues within journalistic work. In truth, numerous journalists face legal action merely for pose inquiries or seeking response from individuals who have not even reviewed the article before initiating proceedings. SLAPPs constitute efforts to suppress journalism and shield those warranting examination from any public responsibility.

All varieties of journalism remain susceptible to such mistreatment from legal intimidators. Catherine Belton faced threats from multiple Russian billionaires and a Russian state oil company while investigating Vladimir Putin’s ascent; Paul Radu, co-founder of OCCRP, was taken to court by an Azerbaijani parliamentarian in London despite neither party being UK-based; the UK Treasury readily permitted disgraced and sanctioned Russian warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin to take action against Bellingcat founder Eliot Higgins; and legal proceedings, including incarceration threats, were directed at The Londoner by the subject of its reporting.

Yet these methods do not exclusively affect national or international publications; regional reporters and smaller media operations can equally face comparable threatening legal action.

Press workers are not the sole targets employed to suppress stories. SLAPPs have been deployed against sexual assault survivors who identified their attackers to alert other women; deployed against local advocates laboring to enhance public services for their communities; deployed against former patients who shared experiences to assist others considering medical procedures; deployed against environmental activists combating to safeguard threatened species and ecosystems from corporate exploitation; deployed against tenants bold enough to request timely repairs and that concerns receive proper attention. Essentially, nearly every sector of society has experienced this type of legalized intimidation, prompting the question: who has been coerced into silence, too afraid to engage with a journalist?

SLAPPs eliminate information from public availability. Each article, social media entry, blog, report or published work removed because a target lacks resources for legal defense, cannot abandon their livelihood to prepare for litigation, and cannot navigate the complexity and uncertainty of the British legal system, diminishes us all.

However, next month the administration possesses a chance to restore equilibrium guaranteeing that those targeted by legal bullies access the same judicial rights as those wealthy enough to meet legal expenses. Should the King’s Speech present legislation establishing comprehensive, transparent, and substantive anti-SLAPP protections, parliamentary time will be allocated for lawmakers to advance a significant step toward everyone’s right to speak freely.

This opinion piece has been contributed by the co-chairs of the UK Anti-SLAPP Coalition:

Nik Williams, Index on Censorship

Susan Coughtrie, Foreign Policy Centre

Charlie Holt, Climate Legal Defense

The UK Anti-SLAPP Coalition functions as an informal working group formed in January 2021 encompassing various freedom of expression, whistleblowing, anti-corruption and transparency organizations, alongside media legal professionals, researchers and academics.