Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press: “As reporters across the country covered the COVID-19 pandemic and the Black Lives Matter protests this past summer, the free legal hotline for journalists operated by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press saw a huge spike in usage, reflecting journalists’ demand for legal guidance during one of the most tumultuous years in our nation’s history. June accounted for the most hotline traffic since data collection began in 2013. Each of the next five months also showed sustained growth compared to previous years. “The thing that struck me was that 2019 was the busiest year that we had on record,” said Reporters Committee Staff Attorney Sarah Matthews. “Then, in 2020, we surpassed that number in September.” The hotline numbers for 2020 exceeded the previous year’s numbers by more than 35%. Since the Reporters Committee’s founding 50 years ago, the legal hotline has become a key component of our work providing legal support to journalists nationwide. On the heels of 2020’s significant increase in traffic, we thought it was an appropriate time to provide journalists with some important information about the legal hotline — and to remind them when they should use it, and what to expect when they do…”