FIRE helped Alexandria Bordas secure liability protections to safely release her two-year investigation. Bordas will speak at a FIRE panel on freelancer liability.
A public-interest discussion
FIRE's upcoming online panel, detailed below, will help unaffiliated reporters contribute sensitive investigations in the public interest.
Deep into her two-year exposé of alleged sexual misconduct in California’s wine country, freelancer Alexandria Bordas realized that there was one thing she hadn’t investigated—her own legal liability.
Bordas had a standard indemnity clause in her contract. Like several other reporters this year with the same problem, she applied to FIRE's Legal Assistance program.
The pro bono service, funded by a generous grant from Craig Newmark Philanthropies, helped Bordas secure indemnification from her publisher on the sexual-assault exposé.
"Had the [San Francisco] Chronicle not ultimately found a solution to legally protect me, I would have had no choice but to pull the story and walk away," Bordas said. "I couldn't have done it without FIRE."
In the end, her co-reported investigation dominated the Chronicle's front page throughout April.
FIRE is pleased to invite you to join Bordas, Mother Jones CEO Monika Bauerlein, and former Bloomberg News Global Media Counsel Charles Glasser, for a virtual roundtable on solving freelancer liability on September 28, 2021.
To register for the event, visit here. To learn more about the Bordas story and other similar success stories, visit here.
And stand by for more developments soon!
Thanks!
Laird Townsend, FIRE Director