Reporters Committee announces $1.25 million from Press Forward in new grant support for Local Legal Initiative
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press today announced $1.25 million in new funding from Press Forward, a national initiative to reimagine local news. With this grant, the Reporters Committee will expand its Local Legal Initiative — which provides dedicated, on-the-ground legal support for local journalists and newsrooms doing critical investigative and enterprise stories in their communities. The three-year grant was awarded as part of Press Forward’s Open Call on Infrastructure, which is providing $22.7 million to 22 projects that address the urgent challenges local newsrooms face today.
“We are immensely grateful to Press Forward for recognizing the growing need among local newsrooms for dedicated legal support,” said Reporters Committee President Bruce D. Brown. “The Reporters Committee is eager to build on the tremendous success of the Local Legal Initiative and add support for additional states.”
“Legal support is critical to sustainable journalism and informed communities,” said Press Forward Director Dale Anglin. “We are pleased to award this grant to the Reporters Committee to expand on the demonstrated success of the Local Legal Initiative.”
Since its launch in 2020 with a $10 million investment from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Local Legal Initiative has transformed the landscape of local news, empowering journalists and newsrooms to push back against government secrecy and produce deeply reported stories that hold public officials accountable to their communities.
Reporters Committee attorneys in Colorado, Indiana, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee have successfully sued cities and counties, police departments, state agencies, public universities, and more, prying loose records that shed light on everything from fatal police shootings and secret school board meetings to medical marijuana oversight and violence inside county jails. They’ve also defended journalists from libel suits and subpoenas of their newsgathering sources. Their work has helped shape laws and change city and county policies in favor of greater government transparency and more informed communities.
Outside the courtroom, Local Legal Initiative attorneys have trained thousands of journalists on their First Amendment and newsgathering rights and responded to hundreds of calls to the Reporters Committee’s free Legal Hotline.
“In just five years, The Local Legal Initiative has proven to be a valuable resource for local journalists in each state that it operates,” said Reporters Committee Local Legal Initiative Director Eric Feder. “We are thrilled to have the opportunity to grow the program and expand into new regions of the country.”
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About the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (RCFP) is the leading pro bono legal services organization for journalists and newsrooms in the U.S. The Reporters Committee provides legal representation, amicus curiae support, and other legal resources at no cost to protect First Amendment freedoms and the newsgathering rights of journalists across the country.
About Press Forward
Press Forward is a nationwide movement to strengthen our democracy by revitalizing local news and information. Press Forward’s growing coalition of funders has committed to invest more than $500 million to strengthen local newsrooms, close longstanding gaps in journalism coverage, advance public policy that expands access to local news and scale infrastructure the sector needs to thrive. Press Forward is housed at The Miami Foundation. For more, visit pressforward.news.