Where We’ve Worked
ProJourn has assisted journalists and freelance reporters with public records access matters nation-wide.
7
states
42
public records access matters
Legal Support
Public Records Access
Journalists face the increasingly difficult struggle to fight for government records on the public’s behalf, where they cite delays, excessive duplication fees, exemptions, and redacted documents as the most pressing obstacles.
Local and state agencies are complying less and less with public record laws. Typically, the only recourse for journalists is to sue, and that is happening less at the local level.
ProJourn’s attorneys support journalists in writing clear public records requests and provide legal support in pursuing the request, thereafter, including in court.
Scope of work for pro bono volunteers includes (non-exhaustive list):
- Interview with client to understand the nature of the records request and current status
- Research on the local laws pertaining to this type of request
- Draft letter in support of the journalist’s request
- Respond to correspondence between the journalist and the relevant agency/state actor
- Consider litigation options
Please note that ProJourn typically needs 10 business days to process a new matter (intake process and conflicts checks; search for a legal team, etc). If your request is more time-sensitive, please reach out to the Reporters Committee’s free Legal Hotline.
“Financial pressures make it difficult for El Paso newsrooms — both well-established and start-ups — to aggressively fight for public records. Pre-publication reviews are rare for similar reasons. The El Paso legal community is small, and very few attorneys are well-versed in media or public transparency laws.”
Bob Moore, founder, El Paso Matters
Do you need help accessing public records?
If you need assistance, please fill out our eligibility form. Your responses will help us assess whether you are eligible to benefit from our pro bono program.
Once enrolled in our program, you will receive an email with instructions on how to submit a legal request. We will vet each of your legal requests and clear conflicts before accepting a matter.
Have an urgent request?
ProJourn cannot handle urgent requests for legal representation or action. We encourage you to seek assistance from the Reporters Committee directly.
Eligibility Criteria
ProJourn’s current eligibility criteria encourage inquiries from newsrooms that are independently owned, community-focused, located near news deserts, include in their coverage underserved communities, and can’t afford to pay legal fees.
To determine financial need, ProJourn will ask for financial information and will confirm news organizations haven’t paid significant fees for similar services in the past 12 months.
ProJourn’s eligibility criteria are similar for nonprofit and for-profit entities. Both types will have to demonstrate they comply with a recognized code of ethics or their own, which must be publicly available.
ProJourn will use this framework of criteria, and eligibility will be decided on a case-by-case basis, with participating law firms also screening cases according to their policies and hitting against their conflicts database.
For News Outlets
- Be legally incorporated in the U.S. or fiscally sponsored by a U.S. nonprofit organization for at least one year, and be willing to share financial information with ProJourn as part of the application and screening process.
- Be community-focused Report local news.
- Use a recognized code of ethics or create their own Stand for accuracy, independence, fairness, transparency, truthfulness.
- Demonstrate that the payment of standard legal fees makes it difficult to move forward with mission-critical work. Show they haven’t paid significant fees for similar legal services in the past 12 months (or that their circumstances have changed so they can’t pay now).
- Nonprofit news outlets must comply with 501(c)(3) requirements, such as governance standards and lobbying restrictions. They must reveal major donors.
- For-profit news outlets must be independently owned, i.e., not primarily or majority-owned by a publicly-traded company, newspaper chain, hedge fund, or private equity firm and/or political or religious institution.
For Individual Journalists
- Be based in the U.S.
- Use a recognized code of ethics or create their own Stand for accuracy, independence, fairness, transparency, truthfulness.
- Demonstrate that the payment of standard legal fees makes it difficult to move forward with their critical work or would significantly deplete their economic resources.
- Have a proven track record (e.g., links to previous publications or awards)
Get Involved With ProJourn.
Volunteer
FAQs
We will gladly accept freelance journalists who:
- Are based in the U.S.
- Use a recognized code of ethics or create their own. Stand for accuracy, independence, fairness, transparency, and truthfulness.
- Demonstrate that the payment of standard legal fees makes it difficult to move forward with their critical work or would significantly deplete their economic resources.
- Have a proven track record (e.g., links to previous publications or awards)
We will gladly accept for-profit news organizations that:
- Are legally incorporated in the U.S. and willing to share financial information with ProJourn as part of the application and screening process.
- Are community-focused i.e., report local news.
- Use a recognized code of ethics or create their own: Stand for accuracy, independence, fairness, transparency, and truthfulness.
- Demonstrate that the payment of standard legal fees makes it difficult to move forward with mission-critical work. Show they haven’t paid significant fees for similar legal services in the past 12 months (or that their circumstances have changed so they can’t pay now).
- Are independently owned, i.e., not primarily or majority-owned by a publicly-traded company, newspaper chain, hedge fund, or private equity firm and/or political or religious institution.
ProJourn works with independent journalists and newsrooms in collaboration. If the matter is for publication with the news organization, both parties will be part of the process. You may seek legal advice separately, but if it’s for publication with a news organization the attorney will likely speak to them as well.
We kindly ask you to fill out our Intake and Conflicts form every time you need an attorney. This form allows us to confirm that your legal request falls within the scope of our program and allow the participating pro bono law firms to run conflicts and confirm they can assist with this matter. Our Intake and Conflict form collects information for a single matter. If you need assistance with more than one matter, you will need to complete the form again for each additional one. Your completion of the Intake and Conflict Form does not constitute acceptance of your matter for representation nor a promise to do so and does not create an attorney-client relationship between you and ProJourn, or the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press or any other participating law firm and company, their employees, directors, or officers.
All law firms need to check for conflicts of interest to make sure there are no direct or positional conflicts with current clients of the firm. An example of a direct conflict would be when the adverse party on a current matter is looking to work with the firm. An example of a positional conflict would be if we were asked to represent someone who is generally on the other side of the work that we do (such as a law firm being asked to represent a tenants’ rights organization when the firm generally represents landlords). All parties for a prospective pro bono matter need to be run through the firm’s internal systems for any “hits.” If there is a conflict, either direct or positional, the firm will not be able to accept the matter.
ProJourn can help journalists with both administrative appeals and litigation.
We will do our best to connect you with a lawyer who can communicate with you in your native language and/or provide you with an interpreter.
If you have a matter that requires urgent legal representation or action, we encourage you to consider seeking legal assistance elsewhere as our process does not permit us to handle such requests. We strongly encourage you to contact us at the earliest drafting stage. We can, indeed, go through the above-mentioned steps while you finalize your story. However, there are other pro bono legal resources available to you in case of urgent request, such as the Reporters Committee legal hotline.
ProJourn assists student newsrooms on a case-by-case basis. We encourage you to fill out our Eligibility Form and we will be in touch if we have any questions. If we are unable to help you, or if your request falls outside of the scope of our mission, we will refer you to the Student Press Law Center which works to promote, support, and defend the First Amendment and press freedom rights of high school and college journalists and their advisers.
We will assign you a team of lawyers and in-house lawyers based on your location, the legal expertise required for the case, and any other relevant factor. However, you have the right to refuse to be advised by the team that will be assigned to you. In that case, it will take us a longer time to connect with pro bono lawyers. You can also indicate that you’d like to be matched with lawyers you previously worked with but there is no guarantee that they will be available.
There is no limit to the number of requests that you can submit with ProJourn, but we won’t be able to help you with more than three live requests at the same time. Once a matter is closed, you’ll be able to submit a new request.
Our legal services are free of charge but you may be responsible for government fees or registration costs associated with your legal request (unless agreed otherwise with the law firm)
Have Questions?
If your question is not answered here, please reach out to the ProJourn team and we will gladly address your query.