Shielding community journalism: How pro bono legal support broke the cycle of self-censorship for one Kenyan radio station

Small news organisations often lack the legal resilience to be able to handle issues around defamation and Intellectual Property (IP) rights, forcing them to self-censor their critical reporting to avoid such claims.

To combat this issue, the Thomson Reuters Foundation has scaled up its package of legal support to independent newsrooms and media outlets to enhance their legal resilience. One such outlet to receive this package of support is Kenyan broadcaster, Radio Domus FM. The Foundation’s global pro bono service, TrustLaw, was able to connect Radio Domus with legal firm, Ochieng Oginga Advocates, for pro bono guidance on their editorial policies.

To celebrate this project’s nomination for a Powered by Pro Bono Award as part of the 2025 TrustLaw Awards, we caught up with Radio Domus Station Manager, Bonface Opany, and the Managing Director of Ochieng Oginga Advocates, Arnold Ochieng Oginga, to delve deeper into the impact and vision that drives their work forward.

What challenge were you facing or what legal information were you lacking?

“We’ve had several instances of issues around defamation and an increase in messages regarding IP rights, especially when we use digital platforms to complement our broadcast. There has been general fear among journalists of being sued on issues around defamation. This has contributed to self-censorship, as we still do not have the capacity to handle legal suits internally.”

_{– Bonface Opany}

What did the pro bono lawyers give you to support?

“The pro bono legal support equipped us with the knowledge and tools to better understand defamation and media law in Kenya, as well as the legal risks associated with investigative journalism and reporting on sensitive issues.“

_{– Bonface Opany}

What has the support helped you achieve?

“The improved editorial policy has helped in continuously shaping the organisation into the trusted source of information that our listeners are hungry for. Moving forward, we plan to focus more on staying updated with evolving media regulations and laws that directly impact community radio stations like ours, especially in areas like digital media and intellectual property rights. In a world of disinformation and misinformation, it’s essential to establish credibility for a newsroom to succeed in gaining a loyal following and brand authority.”

_{– Bonface Opany}

Why is it important for law firms to do pro bono projects like this?

“It is important for law firms to undertake such projects to help organisations build on and update their existing policies so that they are more tailored to current social, political and legal changes. ”

_{– Arnold Ochieng Oginga}

Do you have any specific learnings from the case about how to deliver a successful pro bono project that would be useful to pass on to other lawyers?

“A key lesson that law firms can adopt is having a specific clause on having a mandatory pro bono obligation within the organization, whereby the firm aims to undertake at least 2 or 3 non-court pro bono projects in addition to any other court/litigation related pro bono projects. ”

_{– Arnold Ochieng Oginga}