Vance Center’s Public Interest Reporting Team Strengthens Support for Independent News at National Media Conferences

Local Independent Online News (LION) Publishers’ Independent News Sustainability Summit (2024). Source: Flickr.

In September, attorneys from the Vance Center’s Lawyers for Reporters initiative joined leaders from across the journalism and media law fields at two national gatherings focused on strengthening local and independent news.  

Lawyers for Reporters Managing Attorney Kay Murray and Staff Attorney Christina Jones attended Local Independent Online News (LION) Publishers’ Independent News Sustainability Summit, held on September 3-5 in St. Louis, Missouri. They joined more than 500 independent publishers and news leaders to share strategies for navigating financial, operational, and journalistic challenges in the evolving media landscape.  

During the summit, Murray and Jones hosted office hours, where they offered pro bono legal consultations to several media organizations on issues such as business restructuring, press rights during protests, media liability insurance, and newsroom operational policies. The sessions offered a chance for the LFR team to connect (and re-connect) with Vance Center clients including The Berkley Scanner and My Edmonds News. The summit was a valuable opportunity to expand Lawyers for Reporters’ support for local, independent, and mission-driven news organizations across the United States and increase its visibility among independent media. 

Following the summit, Murray and Jones participated in the MacArthur Foundation’s Local News Grantee Gathering, where grantees from across the country came together to discuss collaboration opportunities and explore how the Foundation can best support their missions. The convening sparked rich conversations about strategies to assist local newsrooms on the verge of closure, leveraging technology needed to sustain modern journalism, expanding access to funding, and addressing immigration considerations for journalists.  

The Vance Center is grateful to the MacArthur Foundation for its ongoing commitment to the Public Interest Reporting Program, which includes Lawyers for Reporters and the Vance Center’s work for international media clients. This support enables the team to provide critical pro bono legal assistance to news organizations at a time when public interest media faces growing pressure and increasingly complex risks.  

Later in September, Murray and Jones joined Public Interest Program Staff Attorney Josephine Herman at the 2025 Media Law Conference, hosted by the Media Law Resource Center in Leesburg, Virginia. Held every two years, the conference gathers more than 300 media lawyers for trainings and discussions on timely issues affecting the press. This year’s sessions covered topics from new developments in libel law and podcast contracts to emerging international legal challenges, offering important insights that will help inform the Vance Center’s pro bono support for clients. 

The conference reinforced the clear need for the Program’s essential legal services, as authoritarianism rises across the globe and threats to the First Amendment intensify in the United States. It also provided a space for Vance Center attorneys to connect with newsroom lawyers from around the world and exchange strategies for protecting journalists and upholding a free and independent press. Many attendees expressed enthusiasm about Lawyers for Reporters’ work with small, independent outlets, highlighting the initiative’s unique role providing support to organizations that often lack access to dedicated legal counsel. 

Through these two national conferences, the Vance Center’s Public Interest Reporting team deepened its engagement with local and independent news organizations. Lawyers for Reporters is expanding its assistance to newsrooms nationwide through the new Compliance Assurance Program, which offers clients pro bono services related to issues including nonprofit registration, regulatory compliance, and more. The Compliance Assurance Program is currently being piloted with a small group of Lawyers for Reporters clients, with plans to make it more widely available soon.