SLAPPstick: how not to fall over from frivolous lawsuits 

SLAPPs continue to be a major challenge for newsrooms pursuing investigative journalism, particularly smaller, independent newsrooms with limited resources. SLAPP stands for Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation and it is an abusive litigation filed by powerful individuals aimed at silencing and intimidating legitimate watchdog journalism. In this panel, representatives for three European independent media organizations present their experiences dealing with SLAPPs, giving practical advice on what they learned in countering them, attesting their impact on the newsroom (financial, chilling effect, workload, etc) and discussing what needs to change in EU and national laws to better protect journalists from frivolous lawsuits. Moderated by Karl van den Broeck.

Organised in association with Apache.