Journalism as the lifeblood of democracy: How can we ensure it is protected?

In an opinion piece written by Sir Keir Starmer, and published by The Guardian, the recently elected Prime Minister reaffirmed the Labour government's priorities towards protecting press freedom in the UK, citing the importance of journalism and denoting it as ‘ the lifeblood of democracy ’. Within the article, he noted that there were a number of issues needing to be addressed, including SLAPPs and online harassment, in order to ensure that journalists remain the ‘ guardians of democratic values ’. This article will examine particular legislative challenges that journalists are facing in the UK and how the new Labour government might go about addressing these in order to ensure that the UK press is able to continue acting as the fourth estate.