After protecting its freelancer, the San Francisco Chronicle was able to expose sexual-assault accusations against a rising political star in the region.
The tense account of a freelancer's
bid for legal protection
When freelancer Alexandria Bordas realized she had to shoulder all the legal liability for an investigation commissioned by the San Francisco Chronicle, she wrote to FIRE "on the verge of pulling this story."
FIRE's new Legal Consultancy quickly helped Bordas reach an agreement to safely publish her sexual-assault exposé. In the end, the story made waves on the Chronicle's front page for weeks. But that outcome was never a given, as detailed in the full backstory here.