Media Legal Defence Initiative

The Media Legal Defence Initiative (MLDI) (or Media Legal Defense Initiative) is a non-governmental organization established in 2008 to provide legal assistance to journalists (including bloggers) and independent media. It also supports training in media law and promotes the exchange of information, litigation tools and strategies for lawyers working on media freedom cases.

It is based in London and has a global network of media lawyers and media freedom activists with whom it works on cases and projects.

The idea for the Media Legal Defence Initiative originated in the aftermath of the criminal defamation trial in 2004 of Indonesian newspaperman Bambang Harymurti, editor of Tempo magazine (Indonesia). A group of people involved in assisting the defence of Harymurti recognised the need for an independent non-governmental organisation that would focus on providing legal support to journalists and media outlets around the world who needed assistance to defend their rights, as well as work to improve the capacity of lawyers in Southeast Asia and elsewhere to defend media freedom.

The Media Legal Defence Initiative was established as a not for profit company in June 2008 and registered as an independent charitable organisation in 2009. Gugulethu Moyo was Executive Director of MLDI from June 2009 until July 2011.

Since it started operating it has provided assistance in cases in countries in Africa, Europe, Asia, North and South America.

Assistance has been provided in the form of grants to individual litigants for the payment of legal fees, grants to support the work of national non-governmental organizations that provide legal services to the media, and free legal advice.

The Media Legal Defence Initiative has also given grants to enable the training and networking of media lawyers in countries including Thailand, Malaysia,Singapore, Indonesia, Cambodia and the Philippines.

MLDI has supported the legal defence of numerous journalists, including:

The MLDI has been invited to intervene as amicus curiae in the European Court of Human Rights in the cases of Von Hannover v. Germany (2) (application no. 40660/08), adjudicated in February, 2012, on the balance between privacy and freedom of expression,MGN Trinity Mirror v. UK, in which it argued that the high cost of defending libel cases violates the right to freedom of expression, and Pauliukas v. Lithuania in 2009. The European Court issued a strong ruling agreeing with MLDI's submissions in the MGN case. Along with others, MLDI also intervened in Max Mosley's application to the European Court of Human Rights, as to whether there should be advance notice given to targets in privacy cases, and Sanoma v Netherlands a case addressing the protection of journalistic sources. In both cases, its arguments were accepted by the Court. It has interventions pending in a case challenging so-called "false news" laws, prohibiting the publication of anything the authorities deem to be incorrect; and in a case concerning the abuse of criminal libel laws.

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