The editor of the Wall Street Journal has revealed that the world's most powerful people have found a new way to make journalism miserable: suing media outlets before they've even published a story. Emma Tucker, whose publication is currently being sued by Donald Trump over its reporting of his relationship with the late child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, said the act of reporting itself is now under threat from what she calls "lawfare."
Speaking at the Harry Evans investigative journalism summit, Tucker explained that suing newspapers pre-publication has become an established PR strategy for the wealthy and connected, capitalizing on the public's growing distrust of the media. "One of the biggest challenges to us now isn't so much what happens afterwards," she said. "It's what happens before you even publish. That is a massive challenge for us." She described a "whole torrent of legal letters" raining down on journalists, noting that deep-pocketed individuals use lawsuits as a PR tactic because it generates headlines like "so-and-so is suing the Wall Street Journal for some reporting that they're doing."
Tucker pointed to the Trump-Epstein story as an example of how difficult and expensive investigative journalism has become, even when the legal threats come after publication. "These days, increasingly, we're getting legally challenged before we even get to publication," she added.
The summit also featured Patrick Radden Keefe, the investigative journalist who uncovered the Sackler family's role in the US opioid crisis, who noted the tension of reporting on Trump's White House. He acknowledged that while the administration challenges objective truth, it's also "good for business" for media companies. "This is a reality TV presidency that has turned politics into entertainment by other means," he said, adding that no news organisation has figured out how to thread that needle.
Kath Viner, the Guardian's editor-in-chief, warned that the combination of AI and political hostility to reporting means "reality itself feels fake." But she saw an opportunity: "If we stay committed to the truth and not fall into the trap of AI slop, then I think we can differentiate ourselves and show our value." The World Press Freedom Index, compiled by Reporters Without Borders, placed more than half of all countries in the "difficult" or "very serious" categories for press freedom, with less than 1% of the world's population now living in a country where press freedom is categorised as "good" - down from a fifth in 2002.