Pre-Publication Review

Attorneys at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press regularly provide free legal vetting, or pre-publication review, for journalists and documentary filmmakers to address potential legal issues before a project is published or released. This legal support helps give journalists, documentarians, and news organizations confidence to pursue important investigative stories.

Over the years, our attorneys have reviewed dozens of enterprise stories for a wide range of clients, including nonprofit newsrooms, freelance journalists, and independent, investigative filmmakers. We have also published a pre-publication review guide to help journalists better vet their own stories and films for legal risks.

Learn more about our pre-publication review practice below. Check out this Q&A with Jennifer Nelson, the Reporters Committee’s director of pre-publication review and journalist support, for more information on what the legal vetting process looks like and why it’s such an in-demand resource for journalists.

Who we serve

Reporters Committee attorneys offer pre-publication services through partnerships with the Fund for Investigative Journalism, the International Documentary Association, and Freelance Investigative Reporters and Editors. We also offer free legal vetting to journalists and newsrooms in our Local Legal Initiative states, and, depending on capacity, accept clients through our free Legal Hotline.

Additionally, we may refer calls to our hotline seeking pre-publication assistance to ProJourn — a program operated by the Reporters Committee in partnership with Microsoft, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation — that provides journalists with no-cost legal help.

If you are a journalist who needs assistance finding an attorney or with other legal matters, contact the Reporters Committee’s Legal Hotline.

Projects we’ve worked on

• “Nuns vs. The Vatican” tells the story of sexual abuse of nuns in the Catholic Church. Directed by Emmy-winning director Lorena Luciano and executive produced by Mariska Hargitay, it premiered at Toronto International Film Festival in 2025.
• An article by Nick Bowlin, a reporter for The Frontier, published in partnership with ProPublica and Grist reveals how Oklahoma regulators failed to stop the spread of toxic wastewater from oil fields.
• In an investigation published by South Side Weekly and WIRED, Max Blaisdell and Jim Daley examine how ShotSpotter continued to provide gunshot data to police in cities where its contracts were canceled.
• A special podcast episode from WPLN, Nashville’s NPR station, explores how harm reduction advocates are working to keep drug users from dying.