Vance Center Joins Panel on Legal Support for Nonprofit News Outlets
Executive Director Alex Papachristou moderated a panel and connected with Public Interest Reporting Program clients during a three-day conference in San Diego, California.
Vance Center Executive Director Alex Papachristou and AfroLA founder Dana Amihere during a panel discussion at INN Days in San Diego, June 12, 2024. Photo credit: Fabiola Lopez
On June 12, Papachristou moderated a panel at the Institute of Nonprofit News (INN) Days conference entitled “Publishing News? Then Yes, You Need a Lawyer.” During the session, he presented the work of Lawyers for Reporters and engaged in dialogue with Dana Amihere, founder of AfroLA, a nonprofit digital news outlet that covers greater Los Angeles through the lens of the Black community, and a longtime LFR client. Amihere described AfroLA’s recent investigative series “Water and Power,” on the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s extensive land holdings, for which LFR provided pre-publication review.
The session also featured insights from co-moderator Flavie Fuentes, pro bono director for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, and Geoffrey King, executive editor of Open Vallejo, an independent nonprofit newsroom based in California.
Vance Center Executive Director Alex Papachristou speaks during the panel discussion at INN Days in San Diego, June 12, 2024. Photo credit: Fabiola Lopez
Papachristou also joined Reporters Shield representatives to present the program to INN members attending the conference. Reporters Shield, an independent U.S.-based nonprofit, provides nonprofit publishers worldwide with membership benefits, including pre-publication review and finding and paying lawyers to defend against defamation claims. The Vance Center’s Reporters Shield program assists the organization in providing members with these benefits, in collaboration with a network of regional coordinators.
During the conference, Papachristou also met with Public Interest Reporting Program clients including Prison Journalism Project, Boulder Reporting Lab, Tiny News Collective, the Pivot Fund, AsAm News, MindSite News, Deep South Today, Birmingham Watch, Peekskill Herald, and My Neighborhood News Network, and others.