13:00 – 13:45 – Day 2 of the Summit will open with a video message from Vera Jourova, followed by a keynote from Matthew Caruana Galizia, investigative journalist and director of the Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation.
14:00 – 14:45 – Across Europe, powerful and thin-skinned elites use Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) to threaten journalists and outlets into silence and stifle public debate and democratic participation by abusing the law. Recognition of the need to tackle this threat at the domestic level and as a regional phenomenon is growing, however. In addition to hearing from journalists who face SLAPPs, this panel will discuss the latest legislative and policy developments at the European Union and Council of Europe levels. For the introductory case study, we will hear from a spokesperson for Luhze, a Leipzig students’ newspaper. They faced vexatious legal action from a real estate company, who accused the student outlet of spreading false claims in relation to their reporting about the company’s business model.
15:30 – 16:15 – How can journalists force governments to disclose information? Freedom of Information Acts are usually described as the main legal tool to request data held by public authorities. However, public bodies do not always answer these requests and many petitions are challenged before the Courts. The panel will offer an overview of the most common difficulties faced by journalists when using these pieces of legislation, and will also focus on the main steps that could be taken to ensure that information is published when requested.
Alexander Fanta, journalist at Netzpolitik.org, will speak about his demand for transparency surrounding text messages between EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Pfizer’s CEO Albert Bourla regarding the deal to buy 1.8 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccine. The panel will also include other recent cases in which journalists have resorted to Freedom of Information Acts to demand information about public interest topics such as minutes of judicial meetings and algorithms used in decision-making processes.
16:30 – 16:50 – Spotlight interview with Editor-in-Chief of the TV Rain websit Vladimir Motorin.
