Media owners, lawyers and civil society groups converged on Twitter Space on Tuesday to discuss the increased trend of frivolous litigations against journalists and players in the civic space.
Tagged “SLAPPThemBack: Examining Litigation Against Dissenting Voices,” the programme was targeted at raising awareness on the difficulties faced by journalists and media organisations regarding the crucial subject of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP).
Organised by the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR), the Twitter Space was also meant to share experiences and provide solutions to such frivolous litigations.
Four keynote speakers and two moderators participated in the session. Chief moderator and Executive Director of the ICIR, Mr Dayo Aiyetan, said that lawsuits against journalists, media outlets and CSOs were hurting the civic space worldwide, noting that they were usually instruments deployed to weaken the space.
“These lawsuits are frequently brought by individuals who have been held accountable for their actions and by hypersensitive governments,” he said.
He added that the legal threats were increasingly being utilised against activists and advocacy groups and were also purposefully used to intimidate the media. Mr Aiyetan further said that using laws on fake news, cybercrime, treason, espionage, defamation, and libel as well as other legal mechanisms to restrict journalists and CSOs in the public space was now common.
,A co-moderator and Head of Programmes at the ICIR, Ms Aisha Abiona, said that the ICIR’s survey of 141 people in the civic sector revealed that 40 organisations—including 37 CSOs and 48 small organisations—had been sued within a year. The poll also revealed that the prospect of legal action had impacted how advocacy was being conducted, she noted..
WikiTimes Publisher, Mr Mohammed Haruna, argued that now was the appropriate time to speak up and consider how to deal with this problem. He noted that hiring attorneys for these lawsuits often involved a lot of resources.
Founder of the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ), Mr Fisayo Soyombo, expressed disappointment at those frivolous lawsuits, stressing that they influenced how a journalist would approach future reports and stories.
A human rights activist, Mr Inibehe Effiong, opined that the judiciary and the legislature needed to declare that defamation was a civil crime rather than a criminal offence. He said it was crucial for media organisations to have legal personnel on staff, noting that “relationships should be built between media organisations and lawyers.”
According to Deputy Head of the journalism programme at the Centre for Journalism Innocation and Development (CJID), Ms Busola Ajibola, threats on journalists and CSOs could take the shape of lawsuits, frivolous claims, physical assaults, arrests, arson, as well as physical and digital surveillance. She suggested that cooperation could greatly aid in resolving this issue through cross-publication of findings.
Adijat Kareem is a research and data analyst at Dataphyte with a background in Economics. She is passionate about data and storytelling in driving social change and innovation.
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