On 16 April 2026, researchers, journalists, and media scholars gathered in Perugia, Italy, during the 20th edition of the International Journalism Festival, for the event “Lawfare database reveal.” Held at the Hotel Priori Secret Garden, the session marked the public introduction of our project, the Lawfare Against Journalism, an international interdisciplinary research initiative, which is building the first systematic database of lawfare cases against journalists worldwide — bringing computational social science methods to bear on a problem that has, until now, resisted systematic study.
The session brought together an international team of researchers leading the project: Lucia Mesquita (Lusófona University, Portugal), Mathias Felipe de Lima Santos (University of New South Wales, Australia), and Stephen Wolgast (University of Kansas, USA). Also, the session was joined by Charlie Holt, who leads the European work of Global Climate Legal Defense (CliDef), an organization set up to support climate activists facing SLAPPs and other legal threats
Participants were introduced to the project’s scope and methodology, followed by an open discussion inviting attendees to share examples, insights, and potential collaborations. Organized by the School of Journalism at the University of Kansas, the session concluded with an informal networking session over refreshments, celebrating the project’s official launch and encouraging continued engagement from the global journalism community.
The lawfare database project is currently in its initial phase and welcomes contributions from journalists, researchers, and organizations interested in documenting and combating the judicialization of journalism.
