DuPont finalist honored

FIRE-supported freelance editor Alison MacAdam quietly honored FIRE in early 2024 when she helped her New Hampshire Public Radio team claim a prestigious DuPont Columbia silver baton award for "The 13th Step" podcast.

The DuPont was the seventh major award won or shared by a FIRE-supported freelancers since 2016.

The list includes a Edward R. Murrow, Peabody, Spotlight award, Society of Professional Journalists' Lisagor award, Frontline Club award, Bart Richards Award for Media Criticism; and four other finalist honors.

As reported here, NHPR's podcast had been a finalist for its exploration of the tense conditions involved in the station's reporting of a sexual-misconduct story, itself lauded with the 2023 Murrow award in investigative reporting.

FIRE attorneys, who helped the station secure MacAdam's protection for the reporting, stood MacAdam and NHPR in good stead through coverage that ultimately faced vandalism and a defamation lawsuit.

After the experience, NHPR upgraded its freelancer contract to reflect the spirit of FIRE's protective language, earning the newsroom the highest rating in the pilot FIRE Guide to Freelancer Protection—as one of only five "Greens" among the 20 outlets evaluated.

Liability success now in 25 of 27 cases

Last year we reported that FIRE's rate of successful interventions to help freelancers secure liability protection had reached 19 of 21 cases.

This year we were called in another six times and secured six more successes—for the freelancers and the oulets working with them.

Both sides used FIRE's pro bono Legal Consultancies and FIRE Contract Template to remove the reporter's liability exposure on particular commissioned stories.

Of the 25 renegotiated stories, 23 have already published, some of them listed here.

We expect more to come. The recently launched FIRE Guide to Freelancer Protection, which transparently analyzes which major publishers and broadcasters promise liability protections, provides ourlets with an incentive to take responsibility for stories—and a tool to do so.

Two of the publishers that successfully renegotiated stories above—New Hampshire Public Radio and 100Reporters—voluntarily incorporated key changes in their template contracts afterward.

With their new promises to subsequent freelancers, the outlets attained the highest rating in FIRE's Guide, "Green," alongside only Mother Jones, the Guardian, and Science, among the 20 outlets evaluated.

Rating freelancer protection at 20 outlets

FIRE is pleased to announce the release of a major undertaking to strengthen the field of freelance investigative reporting: the pilot FIRE Guide to Freelancer Protection.

Funded by a grant from craig newmark philanthropies, the Guide evaluates whether publishers and broadcasters promise to protect freelancers from defamation liability.

It’s well known that many outlets don’t promise to do so, which can have a chilling effect on public-interest investigations. But other outlets do.

By alerting freelancers to competing approaches to defamation exposure, the Guide enables more effective decision-making, reducing time and costs in the public interest—while also recognizing model practices.

The pilot Guide features evaluations of 20 major outlets, from Atlantic to Wired.

To view outlets evaluated and release details, visit here.

To inquire privately, or contribute to the Guide confidentially, email us.

Thanks and more soon!

Five recent investigations bring service milestones

FIRE's full complement of services has advanced a diverse range of investigations this year, including several that have set FIRE precedents:
 

Human rights

By Lucy Provan: exposed plausible culpability for a Sudan-based mass killing, for outlets including the Washington Post, as profiled here. First multiple platform release (grant, reporting services, liability protection)
 

National security

By Zach Dorfman: investigated a little-known consequence of the war on terror, for Rolling Stone, as profiled here. First contractual protections facilitated at Rolling Stone (liability protection)
 

Housing justice

By Janelle O'Dea: safely transferred a housing investigation from her downsized Center for Public Integrity, to the Wichita Eagle and other outlets, as profiled here. First story rescued after a layoff (liability protection, contract facilitation)
 

Child welfare

By Britta Lokting: illuminated the fraught consequences of a contested child-removal tactic for Guardian US, as profiled here. First joint FIRE Consultancy/IRE Freelance Fellowship release (reporting services, contract assistance)
 

Mining corruption

By Daniel Balint-Kurti: unearthed evidence of wrongdoing by a convicted diamond tycoon, for OCCRP. First global adaptation of FIRE liability provisions (also to other freelancers for OCCRP and Reporter's Shield organizations (liability protection)
 

Congratulations to the reporters and the outlets!

A special appreciation to craig newmark philanthropies for making FIRE's legal assistance possible.

Next up: launch of the FIRE Guide to Freelancer Protection.

Rolling Stone story released after vow of protection

A FIRE-supported reporter has published an investigation in Rolling Stone magazine after successfully negotiating his own liability protection from the magazine, a first for FIRE's contract assistance.

The reporter, national security specialist Zach Dorfman, reported on a little-known effect of the war on terror on those assigned to fight it, for an August release.

Dorfman used a FIRE Consultancy to negotiate a customized promise to remove his exposure to defamation threats. He also secured protections for the anonymity of his sources.

The magazine's cooperation on both issues was a breakthrough for the three-year-old FIRE Legal Consultancies, generously funded by craig newmark philanthropies.

"FIRE provided crucial, thoughtful, and pro bono contractual and legal assistance and advocacy," Dorfman said. "The caliber of legal counsel I was provided was extraordinary."

Rolling Stone, known for its support of sensitive public-interest investigations and protection of sources like Dorfman's, is not known for flexibility on a freelancer's own exposure: The magazine has consistently refused to modify a contractual demand that a freelancer indemnify Rolling Stone.

The magazine's positive response in this case will be addressed in the pilot FIRE Guide to Freelancer Protection. The Guide has evaluated liability practices at 20 major outlets and results will appear here soon.

Sudan reporting also appears in Sky News, LeMonde

Freelancer Lucy Provan used a full array of FIRE services to convert two years of Sudan-based reporting into a Washington Post story unearthing evidence of human rights atrocities.

Enlisting FIRE in everything from safety protocols and story guidance to indemnification assistance and financial support, Provan successfully navigated complicated reporting in a multi-platform collaboration arranged by partner publisher Lighthouse Reports.

"FIRE's advice was invaluable in getting this project off the ground—not only specific and constructive but also comprehensive," Provan said about her Consultancy and subsequent $5,000 Virtual Newsroom grant. "FIRE's support made all the difference in bringing this project to life."

Provan's original reporting for the story, a mix of interviews and video footage, resulted from her careful cultivation and protection of vulnerable sources in East Africa.

With guidance from FIRE and our allies at A Culture of Safety Alliance (ACOS), Provan was able to minimize physical danger and her own defamation exposure to document plausible culpability in a mass killing in north Sudan.

The results, vetted and advanced by reporters at each of the outlets, appeared September 9, in the Post, Sky News, and LeMonde.

More from Provan in FIRE Testimonials.

FIRE helps reporter prevail after newsroom layoffs

A decade ago, most freelance journalists adopted their role by choice, according to our 2015 survey results.

Today, "involuntary" freelancers have risen with each round of newsroom layoffs.

In mid-2024, the nonprofit Center for Public Integrity, one of the nation's oldest nonprofit newsrooms, abruptly laid off virtually its entire editorial staff, a stunning loss to the public interest.

One story displaced by the cuts, a Kansas-based housing investigation by CPI digital reporter Janelle O'Dea and local news partners in Wichita, found another chance under a journalism collaborative housed at a regional nonprofit, with a grant for the purpose.

The development seemed promising. The relationship with news partners was "wonderful, trusting, open."

The one problem?

"I had never entered a freelance agreement before," O'Dea said. “I felt unmoored.”

Along with her counterpart at the collaborative, O'Dea enlisted FIRE to secure a comprehensive contract ensuring her protection from defamation liability.

With "all my legal bases covered," she said, O'Dea was able to "focus my energy" to complete the investigation. "The assistance from FIRE was crucial. I am so grateful."

The investigation, appearing as co-bylined stories for multiple outlets in the collaborative, established that the demolition of single-family homes in Wichita disproportionately affected an African-American community. It appeared this September in outlets like the Wichita Eagle.

FIRE is honored to help those who safeguard regional reporting. For more information, visit Wichita Journalism Collaborative.

FIRE freelancer piece cited by Times

Signs of progress for the field 

As late as 2015, this country did not have an organization dedicated to freelance investigative journalists. 

Eight years later, FIRE has altered the landscape with your support. 

Milestones, by the numbers:   

• More than 175 freelancers have received direct hands-on story assistance, including a select portion with grants*  

• 75 reporters have requested Contract Templates to protect themselves  

• 45 commissioning broadcasters or publishers have requested the same Templates, to protect their freelancers  

• More than 300 journalists have benefited from FIRE expertise  

The outcomes have been heartening: 19 of 21 reporters protected, dozens of stories released, six awards won, and perhaps ultimately most important, newfound confidence to do freelance reporting—and to adopt new standards for the field. 

Freelancers are also educating and supporting themselves through the FIRE Contract Template, FIRE Consultancies, Tip Sheets on Liability, a Freelancer Guide, and indirectly, through FIRE's fellow grantmakers, with whom we have actively discussed the issues facing our mutual constituents—and ways to address them.

FIRE focuses exclusively on this one sector of journalism, freelance investigative reporting, because it has a huge potential for the public good—a potential that we look forward to realizing. 

A round of special gratitude to craig newmark philanthropies—and thank you to all! 

*Amends December 7th e-newsletter to clarify that grants have not gone to all of the reporters, only to a portion of them.

Freelancers record successes in 19 of 21 cases

Recent liability protection at Science magazine, Politico, and two other publications have boosted FIRE's rate of successful interventions to 19 of 21 cases since 2021.

In these cases, freelance reporters have used FIRE Legal Consultancies to renegotiate liability exposure on particular commissioned stories.

The breakthroughs have come in various ways, from use of excerpts drawn from the FIRE Contract Template, to custom modifications of an outlet's existing contract. But all reflect the flexibility and wisdom of the broadcasters and publishers involved.

Of the 19 stories, 15 have already been published, some of them listed here.

In addition, an unknown number of freelancers have gained protections privately, as outlets voluntarily adjust their freelance contracts to the Template. In 2023, a publisher with 100 million monthly page-views quietly adopted FIRE's Template as a boilerplate for hundreds of freelancers.

Progress in a pivotal year

Ample anecdotal evidence shows that freelance reporters are shunning public-interest investigations—for safer feature stories or other work entirely—in no small part because publishers and broadcasters won’t promise to accept liability for defamation lawsuits.

The attrition is understandable: No sole proprietor freelancers can afford to expose themselves to the threat of baseless litigation designed to intimidate and punish the media.

But it’s avoidable. Outlets can promise to take responsibility for the stories they commission. It’s pointless not to.

To reverse the attrition, the public needs far more of the kind of advances that FIRE accomplished this year with support from Craig Newmark Philanthropies: 

• The success of two major grant-funded stories, a third in pre-publication review 

• Breakthroughs in five more Legal Consultancy cases, bringing the total of negotiated protections for freelancers to 15 of 17 cases

• Five more published pieces, bringing the total to 11 story releases since 2021  

• More than 70 requests for the FIRE Contract Template  

• The release of an educational tool that could change the way freelance investigative reporting is done—the FIRE Tip Sheets on liability. 

With these new tools and resources, FIRE not only protects individual freelance investigations, but also promotes better conditions to produce them, fulfilling a critical potential in the public interest.

Who’s figured out how to do good work?

The powerful new FIRE Tip Sheets on freelancer liability make a persuasive case that journalism would be better off relinquishing an outmoded contracting model for a more viable way of fulfilling the public interest.

For publishers and broadcasters, the tip sheets show in detail how treaiting freelancers well actually advances an outlet's interest—ultimately at an advantage over those that don't do so.

In concert with researching the tip sheets, FIRE has provided two years of contract-related legal assistance. The work has produced records of how more than two-dozen outlets have engaged freelance reporters. 

That brings us to the next step: In a project seeded by FIRE's grant from Craig Newmark Philanthropies, FIRE is launching a careful evaluation of the records, with an eye to broadening and deepening them with additional research.

If you’re an unaffiliated reporter, we invite you to contribute relevant intelligence to FIRE’s metrics. All inquiries will be kept strictly anonymous and confidential, so feel free to be in touch, with Subj line "Outlet evaluation." Thanks!