Here are some things to take into account :
1) there recently has been a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights that qualifies every blog, every article that touches a "subject relevant for society" under "freedom of press". Meaning : civil journalism (even mom at home writing an article without any journalistic background) is now also considered as "press" and the rules for "freedom of press" apply. Basically it means, if you can demonstrate that a subject / story is relevant for the best intrest of society, you should be good to go
2) there is a difference between "freedom of speech" and "press freedom". The first can be sued in civil court, the second is in criminal court.
3) so you may want to look at the "prescription" date (not sure of the word in English) for defamation / slaunder in the press (which, again, is not the same like freedom of press). In some countries, it will mean that a story about an "ugly truth" could be criminally attacked for a period of 1 year, in other countries (like France) it is limited to 3 months. So you want to choose a country with the shortest prescription period.
4) you may want to consider the speed with which courts operate. The slower the justice system, the more in your intrest. Belgium is king for slow court cases. Netherlands are much better organised.
5) it depends who you will attack : is it politicians ? Then as long as they are not e.g. French or Belgian or Dutch or Finnish, you should be fine in these countries. Do you want to disclose information about banks, insurances, anything that has to do with the financial industry (think of lux leaks : journalists expose mayor fraud and get sued for doing their job ... it touches the rich ...) : any EU country (except anti-EU EU countries) will beat you up.
6) basically you can not get convicted without a court judgment. What you need is a jurisdiction that will protect you. The best is still Nevis from all over the world. As for website / domain protection : iceland.
7) another question is : will you be using secretly recorded audio or video materials ? If so, in some countries it is not allowed (eg France) in others it is allowed (eg Belgium, Netherlands).
8) whistleblower protection : this is a joke and only valid for a certain category of EMPLOYEES and does not apply to journalists.
9) your best protection is to be accredited as a journalist or to work with freelance journalists who are so you have the back-up of journalists associations. You could then also use source protection.
10) again : check legislation : generally it is the AUTHOR that is attacked first - not the company or publisher (this one could be attacked if the author is unknown). So operating under a company won't necessarily protect you.
I'm interested in learning what you have finally decided, I hope you can keep us up to date !
1) there recently has been a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights that qualifies every blog, every article that touches a "subject relevant for society" under "freedom of press". Meaning : civil journalism (even mom at home writing an article without any journalistic background) is now also considered as "press" and the rules for "freedom of press" apply. Basically it means, if you can demonstrate that a subject / story is relevant for the best intrest of society, you should be good to go
2) there is a difference between "freedom of speech" and "press freedom". The first can be sued in civil court, the second is in criminal court.
3) so you may want to look at the "prescription" date (not sure of the word in English) for defamation / slaunder in the press (which, again, is not the same like freedom of press). In some countries, it will mean that a story about an "ugly truth" could be criminally attacked for a period of 1 year, in other countries (like France) it is limited to 3 months. So you want to choose a country with the shortest prescription period.
4) you may want to consider the speed with which courts operate. The slower the justice system, the more in your intrest. Belgium is king for slow court cases. Netherlands are much better organised.
5) it depends who you will attack : is it politicians ? Then as long as they are not e.g. French or Belgian or Dutch or Finnish, you should be fine in these countries. Do you want to disclose information about banks, insurances, anything that has to do with the financial industry (think of lux leaks : journalists expose mayor fraud and get sued for doing their job ... it touches the rich ...) : any EU country (except anti-EU EU countries) will beat you up.
6) basically you can not get convicted without a court judgment. What you need is a jurisdiction that will protect you. The best is still Nevis from all over the world. As for website / domain protection : iceland.
7) another question is : will you be using secretly recorded audio or video materials ? If so, in some countries it is not allowed (eg France) in others it is allowed (eg Belgium, Netherlands).
8) whistleblower protection : this is a joke and only valid for a certain category of EMPLOYEES and does not apply to journalists.
9) your best protection is to be accredited as a journalist or to work with freelance journalists who are so you have the back-up of journalists associations. You could then also use source protection.
10) again : check legislation : generally it is the AUTHOR that is attacked first - not the company or publisher (this one could be attacked if the author is unknown). So operating under a company won't necessarily protect you.
I'm interested in learning what you have finally decided, I hope you can keep us up to date !
