Thanks so much for supporting our small worker-led, community-supported, independent frontline media organization for nearly a decade! March 20 marked the eight-year anniversary of our collective becoming a nonprofit, and this month, we're celebrating eight years since our website officially launched in 2015. We couldn't have made it to this milestone without all of your support, and we're excited to continue our work well into the future with the help of backers like you. But while we're celebrating our anniversary, we're still locked in an ongoing legal battle to defend our press freedom rights from attempted interference by Energy Transfer, the multi-billion dollar corporation behind the Dakota Access Pipeline. Read on to learn more about our eight year fundraiser and get an update about our continued defense.
Since 2015, Unicorn Riot has been spotlighting stories from the frontlines of social and environmental struggles by producing non-commercial, freely accessible media without ads or paywalls. For the first several years, UR members volunteered their time, equipment, expertise, and efforts to help build and grow Unicorn Riot. Thanks to the support of our great community, we were able to become sustainable while paying members and contributors meaningful wages. To celebrate eight years, we’re seeking to raise $18,000 signifying eight years of independent media along with a hope for ten more years! Donate tax-deductibly here.
Your support goes directly to the general operating costs of Unicorn Riot and helps us meet our needs, including equipment and data costs, platform and website costs, legal fees, travel expenses, and compensation for journalists and administrators.
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Legal update
First, we’d like to say thank you to our great community for sticking with us through this drawn out legal battle. This struggle has grown into one concerning the fundamental protections needed to ensure a free press, and we couldn’t have mounted the defense we have up to this point without your support. With that, we have some updates concerning this case that we can now share with you.
In Dec. 2022, after nearly three months of waiting, Judge Klein denied Energy Transfer’s motion to compel Unicorn Riot to comply with their third-party subpoenas, but the court ordered UR to produce privilege logs. You can read the ruling in full here.
Seeing the process of producing a privilege log as not only burdensome, but an imposition on our First Amendment rights as an independent media outlet, we chose to fight that ruling and our attorney submitted a motion of relief from the order of producing a privilege log. A court hearing was held on March 31 over that motion and a ruling is expected in the coming months.
As we wait for that ruling, the fight is certain to continue, and further court hearings and filings are likely to occur over the next several months. This whole ordeal has been very expensive for our small nonprofit organization and we don’t know when the situation will be resolved.
We need your continued help and support to push us through this and ensure we can continue to do our work without draining our limited resources. Right now, our ability to keep reporting on the stories you care about is at risk due to interference from an oil corporation’s lawsuit against activists that we are not a party to. The appeal process is estimated to cost us $35,000. This brings our total legal fees fighting this issue to nearly $50,000. If you’re financially privileged or know someone who is, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to our legal fund. Thank you for helping us make this stand for a free and independent press!
Thanks to your support, UR has been able to retain legal counsel to help us protect the integrity of our reporting. If you want to contribute to the ongoing costs of our legal needs, consider supporting us with a one-time donation or as a monthly recurring supporter. Thanks!
Background: Unicorn Riot, as an entity, and member Niko Georgiades, as an individual journalist, were served subpoenas in March 2021 as part of Energy Transfer/DAPL's lawsuit (filed in North Dakota state court) against Greenpeace and Indigenous water protectors, claiming they protested the pipeline for financial gain and not due to the potential environmental damage/harm to treaty rights.
