Media Legal Defence Initiative
Encyclopedia
The Media Legal Defence Initiative (MLDI) is a non-governmental organization established in 2008 to provide legal assistance to journalists and news media organizations, support training in media law and promote the exchange of information, litigation tools and strategies for lawyers working on media freedom cases.
It is based in London
and has a global network of media lawyers and media freedom activists with whom it works on cases and projects.
, editor of Tempo magazine (Indonesia)
. A group of people involved in assisting the defence of Harymurti recognised the need for an independent non-governmental organisation that would focus on providing legal support to journalists and media outlets around the world who needed assistance to defend their rights, as well as work to improve the capacity of lawyers in Southeast Asia and elsewhere to defend media freedom.
The Media Legal Defence Initiative was established as a not for profit company in June 2008 and registered as an independent charitable organisation in 2009.
Since it started operating it has provided assistance in cases in countries in Africa
, Europe
, Asia
, North and South America
.
Assistance has been provided in the form of grants to individual litigants for the payment of legal fees, grants to support the work of national non-governmental organizations that provide legal services to the media, and free legal advice.
The Media Legal Defence Initiative has also given grants to enable the training and networking of media lawyers in countries including Thailand
, Malaysia, Singapore
, Indonesia
, Cambodia
and the Philippines
.
The Media Legal Defence Initiative has also been at the forefront of a campaign at the Council of Europe to address the impact that counter-terrorism laws are having on media freedom. The Council's campaign has resulted in a pledge by States to review these laws.
With the IBA and others, MLDI also supports the development of media lawyers network in Southeast Asia.
. Param Cumaraswamy, Professor Yuen-Ying Chan
, Jon Snow
, Adam Michnik
, Geoffrey Robertson
QC, Floyd Abrams
, José Zalaquett
, Paul Collier
, Hina Jilani
, Margaret Sekaggya and Soli Sorabjee
are patrons.
MLDI also has an International Advisory Board which includes Bambang Harymurti
, Eduardo Bertoni, Beatrice Mtetwa, Mark Stephens
, Karinna Moskalenko
, Cyril Shroff and Stuart Karle. Its trustees are Gwyneth Henderson, Martin Kramer, Stephen Tough, Ann Grant, Professor Philip Leach, and Wilf Mbanga.
Since it was established, the Media Legal Defence Initiative has received funding from private donors including the Open Society Institute
, the Sigrid Rausing Trust
, the Adessium Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation
.
It is based in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and has a global network of media lawyers and media freedom activists with whom it works on cases and projects.
History
The idea for the Media Legal Defence Initiative originated in the aftermath of the criminal defamation trial in 2004 of Indonesian newspaperman Bambang HarymurtiBambang Harymurti
Bambang Harymurti , commonly referred to by his initials BHM, is a journalist and editor-in-chief of Tempo. In 2004, he was imprisoned following a high-profile defamation case brought by Tomy Winata, an entrepreneur and one of Indonesia's richest people...
, editor of Tempo magazine (Indonesia)
Tempo magazine (Indonesia)
Tempo is an Indonesian weekly magazine that covers news and politics. It was founded by Goenawan Mohamad and Yusril Djalinus and the first edition was published in March 1971.-New Order era:...
. A group of people involved in assisting the defence of Harymurti recognised the need for an independent non-governmental organisation that would focus on providing legal support to journalists and media outlets around the world who needed assistance to defend their rights, as well as work to improve the capacity of lawyers in Southeast Asia and elsewhere to defend media freedom.
The Media Legal Defence Initiative was established as a not for profit company in June 2008 and registered as an independent charitable organisation in 2009.
Since it started operating it has provided assistance in cases in countries in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
, North and South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
.
Assistance has been provided in the form of grants to individual litigants for the payment of legal fees, grants to support the work of national non-governmental organizations that provide legal services to the media, and free legal advice.
The Media Legal Defence Initiative has also given grants to enable the training and networking of media lawyers in countries including Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, Malaysia, Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
, Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
and the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
.
Notable cases supported by the MLDI
Cases in which the Media Legal Defence Initiative has provided support include:- The defence of the GambianGambianGambian may refer to:* Something of, from, or related to the country of The Gambia* A person from The Gambia, or of Gambian descent. For information about the Gambian people, see Demographics of the Gambia and Culture of the Gambia. For specific persons, see List of Gambians.* Note that there is no...
journalists Sarata Jabbi-Dibba, Emil Touray, Pa Modou Fall, Pap Saine, Ebrima Sawaneh and Sam Sarr convicted in 2009 of seditionSeditionIn law, sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that is deemed by the legal authority to tend toward insurrection against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent to lawful authority. Sedition may include any...
and criminal libelCriminal libelCriminal libel is a legal term, of English origin, which may be used with one of two distinct meanings, in those common law jurisdictions where it is still used....
for criticising their government's failure properly to investigate the killings and disappearances of journalists in their country; - The defence of ThaiThai peopleThe Thai people, or Siamese, are the main ethnic group of Thailand and are part of the larger Tai ethnolinguistic peoples found in Thailand and adjacent countries in Southeast Asia as well as southern China. Their language is the Thai language, which is classified as part of the Kradai family of...
newspaper columnist Kamol Kamoltrakul in a multi-million dollar defamation case brought against him in 2008 by Tesco LotusTesco Lotusthumb|right|200px|Tesco Lotus Hypermarket, Lat Phrao Branch]]Tesco Lotus is a hypermarket chain in Thailand, Cambodia and China . In Thailand, the stores are operated by Ek-Chai Distribution System Co., Ltd....
, the Southeast Asian subsidiary of Tesco PLC, the world's second largest supermarket chain. Mr Kamoltrakol had criticised Tesco Lotus for driving homegrown small businesses out of existence; - A case brought against Ugandan police brought by two journalists who were beaten up when they tried to film a story critical of the police;
- The defence in 2009 of Almas Kusherbaev, a Kazakh journalist who criticised the involvement of a Kazakh politician, Romin Madinov, in the trade of grain which has pushed up the price of bread in the country;
- The MLDI intervened as amicus curiae in the European Court of Human Rights in the cases of MGN Trinity MirrorTrinity MirrorTrinity Mirror plc is a large British newspaper and magazine publisher. It is Britain's biggest newspaper group, publishing 240 regional papers as well as the national Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and People, and the Scottish Sunday Mail and Daily Record. Its headquarters are at Canary Wharf in...
v. UK, in which it argued that the high cost of defending libel cases violates the right to freedom of expression, and Pauliukas v. Lithuania in 2009. The European Court issued a strong ruling agreeing with MLDI's submissions in the MGN case. Along with others, MLDI also intervened in Max Mosley's application to the European Court of Human Rights, as to whether there should be advance notice given to targets in privacy cases, and Sanoma v Netherlands a case addressing the protection of journalistic sources. In both cases, its arguments were accepted by the Court.
The Media Legal Defence Initiative has also been at the forefront of a campaign at the Council of Europe to address the impact that counter-terrorism laws are having on media freedom. The Council's campaign has resulted in a pledge by States to review these laws.
With the IBA and others, MLDI also supports the development of media lawyers network in Southeast Asia.
Organisation and funding
The Media Legal Defence Initiative is registered as a charity in the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. Param Cumaraswamy, Professor Yuen-Ying Chan
Yuen-Ying Chan
Yuen-ying Chan often Ying Chan is currently director and professor of Journalism and Media Studies Centre at Hong Kong University; dean and professor of Cheung Kong School of Journalism & Communication at Shantou University, China; board member of Investigative Reporting Workshop Advisory Board of...
, Jon Snow
Jon Snow
Jon Snow is an English journalist and presenter, currently employed by ITN. He is best known for presenting Channel 4 News.He was Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University from 2001 to 2008.-Early life:...
, Adam Michnik
Adam Michnik
Adam Michnik is the editor-in-chief of Gazeta Wyborcza, where he sometimes writes under the pen-names of Andrzej Zagozda or Andrzej Jagodziński. In 1966–1989 he was one of the leading organizers of the illegal, democratic opposition in Poland...
, Geoffrey Robertson
Geoffrey Robertson
Geoffrey Ronald Robertson QC is an Australian-born human rights lawyer, academic, author and broadcaster. He holds dual Australian and British citizenship....
QC, Floyd Abrams
Floyd Abrams
Floyd Abrams is an American attorney at Cahill Gordon & Reindel. He is an expert on constitutional law, and many arguments in the briefs he has written before the United States Supreme Court have been adopted as United States Constitutional interpretative law as it relates to the First Amendment...
, José Zalaquett
José Zalaquett
José "Pepe" Zalaquett Daher is a Chilean lawyer, renowned for his work in the defence of human rights during the de facto regime that governed Chile under General Augusto Pinochet from 1973 to 1990.-The coup d'état and the Pro Paz Committee:...
, Paul Collier
Paul Collier
Paul Collier, CBE is a Professor of Economics, Director for the Centre for the Study of African Economies at The University of Oxford and Fellow of St Antony's College. From 1998 – 2003 he was the director of the Development Research Group of the World Bank.-Life:Collier is a specialist in...
, Hina Jilani
Hina Jilani
Hina Jilani is an advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and a human-rights activist from Lahore in Punjab, Pakistan.-Work:Jilani is internationally recognized for her expertise in critical human rights investigations. She started practising law in 1979, when Pakistan was under martial law...
, Margaret Sekaggya and Soli Sorabjee
Soli Sorabjee
Soli Jehangir Sorabjee is an Indian jurist.-Biography:Soli Sorabjee was born on March 9, 1930 in Bombay, and after an education at Government Law College, Bombay, was admitted to the bar in 1953...
are patrons.
MLDI also has an International Advisory Board which includes Bambang Harymurti
Bambang Harymurti
Bambang Harymurti , commonly referred to by his initials BHM, is a journalist and editor-in-chief of Tempo. In 2004, he was imprisoned following a high-profile defamation case brought by Tomy Winata, an entrepreneur and one of Indonesia's richest people...
, Eduardo Bertoni, Beatrice Mtetwa, Mark Stephens
Mark Stephens (solicitor)
Mark Howard Stephens CBE is a British solicitor specialising in media law, intellectual property rights and human rights with the firm Finers Stephens Innocent...
, Karinna Moskalenko
Karinna Moskalenko
Karinna Akopovna Moskalenko , is Russia’s leading human rights lawyer, defending, amongst others, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Garry Kasparov and Alexander Litvinenko...
, Cyril Shroff and Stuart Karle. Its trustees are Gwyneth Henderson, Martin Kramer, Stephen Tough, Ann Grant, Professor Philip Leach, and Wilf Mbanga.
Since it was established, the Media Legal Defence Initiative has received funding from private donors including the Open Society Institute
Open Society Institute
The Open Society Institute , renamed in 2011 to Open Society Foundations, is a private operating and grantmaking foundation started by George Soros, aimed to shape public policy to promote democratic governance, human rights, and economic, legal, and social reform...
, the Sigrid Rausing Trust
Sigrid Rausing Trust
Sigrid Rausing Trust is a grant-giving charitable foundation in the United Kingdom set up in 1995 by Sigrid Rausing to promote international human rights.The Trust was originally named the Ruben and Elisabeth Rausing Trust, after Sigrid Rausing's grandparents...
, the Adessium Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation
MacArthur Foundation
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is one of the largest private foundations in the United States. Based in Chicago but supporting non-profit organizations that work in 60 countries, MacArthur has awarded more than US$4 billion since its inception in 1978...
.