The Bonavero Institute and the Centre for Freedom of the Media organise panel discussions on SLAPPs in commemoration of the World Press Freedom Day

To commemorate the World Press Freedom Day, on Friday 3 May the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights and the Centre for Freedom of the Media (CFOM) at the University of Sheffield hosted two online panel events on Strategic Lawsuits against Public Participation (SLAPPs). The first panel, composed by Susan Coughtrie (Director of the Foreign Policy Centre and co-founder of the UK Anti-SLAPP Coalition), Gill Phillips (Editorial Legal Consultant at Guardian News & Media Ltd), Michelle Stanistreet (General Secretary of the National Union of Journalists), and Sayra Tekin (Director of Legal for the News Media Association), and chaired by Irini Katsirea (Reader in International Media Law at the University of Sheffield), explored the chilling effects that SLAPPs can have on journalists/ism, while the second panel, composed by Peter Coe (Associate Professor at Birmingham Law School and independent member of the Council of Europe’s Expert Committee on SLAPPs), Rebecca Moosavian (Associate Professor in Law at Leeds School of Law), Paul Wragg (Professor of Media Law at Leeds School of Law), and Charlie Holt (lead counsel for campaigns at Greenpeace International leading the organisation’s SLAPP resilience strategy), and chaired by Damian Tambini (Distinguished Policy Fellow in the Department of Media and Communications at LSE), discussed how SLAPPs can be tackled through legislation, focusing on legislative efforts in the UK and abroad.

The event was well attended and it was showcased in UNESCO’s ‘Celebrations around the World’ for the World Press Freedom Day 2024. The recording will be soon available on the Bonavero Institute's ‘Watch & Listen’ page.