Erik Prince, the billionaire mercenary who founded the private security firm Blackwater, is taking another run at his defamation suit against The Intercept — for the third time.
We’ve already spent over $200,000 on legal fees and costs fighting off Prince’s lawsuits — not to mention the seemingly never-ending hours by our legal department.
This is the weaponization of libel law to threaten the news media and chill journalism. We refuse to be silenced, but we’re counting on you, our readers, to stand with us.
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The reason why libel law is such a serious threat to journalism is because lawsuits like this don’t have to be successful in court to accomplish the goal of intimidating journalists.
Simply by costing us money, even the most frivolous libel suit could suck up limited resources and force reporters and editors to think twice about who they cover.
We aren’t the only ones facing harassing lawsuits, but as a nonprofit news outlet, we rely on readers to support all our work, including supporting the legal team that defends the rights of our investigative journalists.
Our journalists won’t be bullied away from reporting on any matter in the public interest, and that includes the activities of billionaire mercenaries like Erik Prince.
