Journalists across southern Africa face a variety of obstacles to investigative reporting — from funding struggles to state censorship to legal intimidation — but are still innovating and collaborating to persevere.
Among the most frequently used forms of legal coercion against investigative journalists are SLAPPs (“strategic litigation against public participation”), which aim to intimidate reporters into abandoning their investigations. The practice of abusing legal systems by those in power to silence critics has reached global proportions. Its damage is far-reaching and curbing it is an imperative for democracy and maintaining peace.
