Lenfest Institute supports RCFP’s Pennsylvania Local Legal Initiative

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press provides pro bono legal services to reporters and news organizations pursuing enterprise and investigative journalism

May 13, 2024

The Lenfest Institute for Journalism today announced a $75,000 grant to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press to support the Pennsylvania Local Legal Initiative for 2024–2025.  

Launched in 2020, the Reporters Committee Local Legal Initiative provides pro bono legal services to reporters and news organizations pursuing enterprise and investigative journalism. In Pennsylvania, its on-call attorney, Paula Knudsen Burke, fields hotline requests from journalists, trains journalists on their legal rights, and files lawsuits on behalf of journalists and newsrooms to gain access to public records. 

The Local Legal Initiative, which now operates in five states, has had a substantial impact in Pennsylvania in the more than four years since its creation: Attorneys have helped improve public access to criminal court records, forced a county jail to revise its unconstitutional policies, and helped news organizations uncover issues in the state’s medical marijuana program.  

“The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press’s Local Legal Initiative provides essential legal support to journalists and news organizations across Pennsylvania,” said Lenfest Institute Executive Director & CEO Jim Friedlich. “The Lenfest Institute is proud to support the Reporters Committee to help ensure local journalists are able to hold power to account and create journalism that serves their communities.”  

This funding will support more than just Burke’s ongoing work through the Reporters Committee’s free Legal Hotline and strategic litigation program. It will also help Burke continue to vet news stories before they are published, file friend-of-the-court briefs in cases related to press freedom, and provide expanded trainings and legal resources for journalists covering campaigns and elections in Pennsylvania.

“We are grateful for the continued support of the Pennsylvania Local Legal Initiative from The Lenfest Institute,” said Reporters Committee Executive Director Bruce D. Brown. “The Institute is an important partner in this effort to make sure that journalists and newsrooms throughout Pennsylvania are well equipped to push back when legal challenges arise throughout the reporting process.”