The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press is now providing free and direct legal support to Mississippi journalists and newsrooms through its Local Legal Initiative.
Mississippi is among the seven states with a staff attorney from the Reporter’s Committee available to provide local news organizations free legal assistance, and the group is set to expand its service to two more states later this year.
Andrew Coffman, based in Tupelo, is the group’s new staff attorney for Mississippi.
“Mississippi journalists are working every day to bring information to our communities, and in a growing number of cases, they need legal backing to fulfill that mission,” Coffman said in a press release.
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press is the nation’s largest provider of pro bono legal services for journalists and newsrooms. It is also a leading advocate for press freedom in the U.S. and has a variety of resources, including a 24/7 Legal Hotline.
“We really see our mission here as parallel to the mission of any kind of journalism … and we view ourselves as providing support for that,” said Eric Feder, director of the Local Legal Initiative.
With the addition of Mississippi and Louisiana, along with Minnesota and Michigan later this year, the number of states in the Local Legal Initiative is growing from five to nine. The program previously provided services in Oregon.
Part of what made this expansion possible was a $1.25 million award from Press Forward’s Open Call on Infrastructure. Press Forward is a philanthropic group that supports local journalism in the U.S.
“I’m looking forward to being a resource for journalists and news organizations across the state to help them access public records and meetings, push back on legal challenges and produce even more deeply reported stories that shed light on important issues and hold government accountable,” Coffman said in the press release.
Eric Feder Credit: Courtesy photoCoffman is a graduate of the University of Mississippi School of Law and was the inaugural National Center for Justice and the Rule of Law fellow.
He previously worked at law firm Phelps Dunbar LLP, where he litigated cases related to intellectual property infringement, defamation and more. He also worked as senior associate general counsel for the Tennessee Department of Health, senior associate attorney for King & Ballow and law clerk to U.S. District Judge Michael P. Mills in the Northern District of Mississippi.
According to The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press website, the initiative’s attorneys have helped journalists win legal battles over public records, libel lawsuits and subpoenaing sources. The attorneys also have successfully helped advocate for greater transparency in state, local and municipal governments.
In 2025, the Reporters Committee and the Mississippi Press Association filed a friend-of-the-court brief urging the Mississippi Supreme Court to uphold a lower court’s dismissal of former Gov. Phil Bryant’s defamation lawsuit against Mississippi Today. The Supreme Court recently heard arguments Bryant’s effort to revive the case, but justices have not yet issued a ruling.
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