For many independent news publishers, the biggest threat to accountability reporting isn’t a lack of story ideas. It’s the uncertainty that comes moments before publication. When a newsroom lacks in-house legal counsel, difficult editorial decisions often come down to instinct, experience, and a willingness to take risks. For Dublin Inquirer, a seven-person independent news organization covering Ireland’s capital city, that challenge was all too familiar.
“We’re very small,” said editor and co-founder Sam Tranum. “We’ve got like seven people, so I’m the person who runs the business side and also manages people and edits articles.” Like many independent publishers, Dublin Inquirer regularly reports on housing, government, planning, and other issues that can generate legal threats from powerful interests. Before joining Reporters Shield in late 2023, legal review was largely an internal exercise.
“Before this, it was Lois and I at one in the morning on deadline night being like, ‘Do you think we publish it? I think it’s okay. Do you think it’s okay?’” Tranum and Dublin Inquirer co-founder and deputy editor Lois Kapila often found themselves weighing difficult editorial decisions without access to specialized legal counsel. Like many independent publishers, they were trying to balance two competing responsibilities: serving the public interest while protecting the organization they had spent years building.
That tension is exactly where Reporters Shield’s Legal Risk Assessment (LRA) service enters the picture.
Finding the risks before publication
Dublin Inquirer uses the Legal Risk Assessment process when a story raises concerns about potential legal exposure. “When we have a story where we think we might get ourselves sued on this one, that’s when we ask for a legal risk assessment,” Tranum explained. “To get a perspective from a lawyer on how we can lower the risk as far as possible, but still publish the story.”
The emphasis on “still publish” is important. According to Peter Noorlander, who helped launch Reporters Shield and now works with another organization that uses the service, the goal was never to create a system that discourages journalism. “What you really want is a lawyer who can work with you as a journalist, who can understand why it is that you need to publish what you’re going to publish, but who will then work with you to minimize the risk in that.”
That philosophy differs from the experience many journalists have when seeking legal advice. Traditional legal counsel often approaches stories from a risk-avoidance perspective. Reporters Shield’s network of media-law specialists is designed to help journalists publish important stories more safely, not avoid them altogether.
For Dublin Inquirer, that difference has proven valuable. “It reduces stress a little bit,” Tranum said. “Having somebody to play that sort of devil’s advocate or sensible adult in the room is very useful for us.”
Protecting stories without killing them
One example involved reporting on children living in foster care and residential homes.
During the legal review process, a lawyer identified a problem that Dublin Inquirer’s editors had overlooked. “We were reporting about kids who were in children’s homes and foster care, and we were not up on the law surrounding that well enough,” Tranum said. “A lawyer pointed out to us that we were inadvertently possibly identifying some of the children.”
The issue wasn’t simply legal exposure. It also created the potential for harm to vulnerable children. Rather than abandoning the story, the newsroom adjusted it. “We just slightly anonymized that by changing a location to be less specific, and then went ahead with it.”
The result was exactly what the Legal Risk Assessment process is designed to accomplish: the story reached the public while unnecessary legal and ethical risks were reduced.
Another example involved what initially appeared to be a relatively minor neighborhood story.
Residents complained that a newly constructed housing complex had been marketed as an open, accessible part of the community during the planning process, but was later enclosed behind locked gates.
As Tranum began reporting, the developer’s legal team threatened a lawsuit that could have exposed the publication to enormous financial risk. “Their in-house counsel rang me up and threatened to sue me for, I forget how much it was, like €15 million or something, if I published the story.”
The threat introduced a legal concept Tranum had never encountered before. “I got in touch with a lawyer through the LRA, through Reporters Shield, and had a conversation with her,” he said. “I have no idea what tortious interference is still, but she did.”
The lawyer helped him evaluate both the legal risk and the broader editorial question.
“She kind of said, ‘I think this is bullshit, but is this really the hill you want to die on?’” Ultimately, the story was published after a short delay. Again, the review process didn’t stop the journalism. It helped the newsroom make a more informed decision.
Confidence for a growing newsroom
One of the most interesting aspects of Dublin Inquirer’s experience is that Reporters Shield hasn’t necessarily made the newsroom more aggressive. Instead, it has helped maintain the same level of accountability reporting as the organization’s responsibilities have grown.
“When we started this thing, we were younger,” Tranum said. “We had a lot less to lose.”
Today, the publication has employees, a stronger reputation, and significantly greater financial exposure. “We’re still publishing similar stuff,” he said. “I’m not sure we would still be taking the same risks now that the stakes have changed if we didn’t have Reporters Shield with us.”
That reality is familiar to many independent publishers. According to Noorlander, Dublin Inquirer represents exactly the type of organization the service was designed to support. “They’re not massive, they’re not huge, so they don’t have revenue at a level that allows them to buy in legal services,” he said. “They’re also not big enough to have an in-house lawyer.” Without access to affordable legal expertise, publishers often face two undesirable choices: self-censor or take risks blindly. The Legal Risk Assessment process offers a third option.
More than legal advice
Today, Dublin Inquirer is actively defending itself against a lawsuit related to reporting on Dublin’s rental sector. The publication had previously used Reporters Shield’s legal review process on the stories at the center of the dispute.
While the case continues, Tranum says the support extends beyond legal analysis. “We would never be able to fight our own corner without them there,” he said. “They are willing to stand by us and keep calling us up and asking, ‘How’s the case going? We’re here for you. What do you need?’”
For independent publishers, that combination of practical guidance, legal expertise, and ongoing support may be the most valuable benefit of all.
Summing up the impact on Dublin Inquirer, Tranum offered perhaps the clearest assessment of what the service provides.
“Reporters Shield gives us more confidence to go ahead with stories that are riskier but we think are worth it for public interest journalism.” I think this version keeps the focus where it belongs: the pain of uncertainty and limited legal resources, followed by the practical benefits of being able to publish important stories with greater confidence. It also reads like an E&P case study rather than a product brochure.
About Reporters Shield:
Reporters Shield is an independent, nonprofit membership organization that defends investigative and public-interest journalism from legal threats designed to silence critical reporting. Serving print, digital, and nonprofit newsrooms globally, the organization provides legal support and resources to help journalists publish with confidence. It was developed by investigative journalists and media lawyers, with support from leading legal institutions and funders committed to defending press freedom.
For more information, contact info@reporters-shield.org.
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