The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (RCFP) is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that provides pro bono legal services and resources to and on behalf of journalists.

[1][additional citation(s) needed] The journalists in attendance formed a part-time committee dedicated to this issue, and they eventually garnered enough support from foundations and news organizations to build a staff and recruit attorneys willing to volunteer their services.

[citation needed] Jack Landau, the Reporters Committee's first executive director, implemented many of the legal defense projects that are central to the organization today.

In 2002, the Reporters Committee released the first edition of "Homefront Confidential',[10] a series of summaries highlighting the evolution of the public's right to know in a post-September 11 climate.

[non-primary source needed] Since 2012, Bruce Brown has served as the executive director of the Reporters Committee,[11] and worked to expand the organization's pro bono legal services and resources.

The subsequent grand jury investigation of reporter Stanley Johnston and the Tribune marks the only time in U.S. history that the government has attempted to prosecute a major newspaper for violating the Espionage Act for publishing leaked classified information.

[20] In 2016, the Reporters Committee and Time Inc. filed a motion with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to unseal documents from the 1999 class action lawsuit settlement[21] regarding the construction of Trump Tower.

[25] The Reporters Committee won a four-year lawsuit in 2018 on behalf of journalist Ziva Branstetter and Tulsa World over access to public records related to Oklahoma's botched execution of Clayton Lockett.

[27] In 2022, representing the Los Angeles Times in court, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press forced the partial release of the search warrant affidavit in the Senator Richard Burr insider trading investigation.

[38][39] The organization also helped found the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, and in 2018, published a report based on the tracker's data assessing the state of press freedom in the U.S.[40][41] Other Reporters Committee resources include a digital interactive map documenting the policies governing public access to police body camera footage in more than 100 police departments,[42][34] and a record of federal cases since 1844 involving leaks of government information to the news media.