Anti-SLAPP readiness

Status

This is an internal policy and a first draft. The declaration template below is a starting position; final language will be reviewed by a California media-law attorney before launch. Nothing on this page is legal advice.

Why this exists

California Code of Civil Procedure §425.16 — the anti-SLAPP statute — lets a defendant in a meritless defamation action file a special motion to strike the claim early in litigation. A successful motion stays discovery, awards mandatory attorney’s fees, and is immediately appealable on denial. It is the single most important defensive tool available to a California news publisher.

A motion to strike rests on showing that:

1. The challenged speech was made "in furtherance of the right of petition or free speech in connection with a public issue," and
2. The plaintiff cannot show a probability of prevailing on the claim.

Our editorial-process declaration goes to part (1). The strength of our editorial discipline goes to part (2).

Template editorial-process declaration

I, Finn Bennett, declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California that the following is true and correct.

1. I am the founder and editor of Pier and Point, an online news publication covering Ventura, California, owned and operated by Overlook Strategy LLC, a California limited liability company.

2. The article that is the subject of the present action, titled "[HEADLINE]" published at [URL] on [DATE], reports on a matter of public concern in Ventura, California. Specifically, the article addresses [SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE PUBLIC ISSUE].

3. The article was researched, drafted, fact-checked, and reviewed in accordance with Pier and Point’s published editorial policies, available at https://pierandpoint.com/policies. Those policies include our Ethics & Standards policy, our AI Usage policy, our Sourcing & Attribution policy, our Corrections & Retractions policy, and our Naming Policy for Arrestees and the Accused.

4. Specifically, before publication of the article: every factual claim was attributed to a primary source or to a named human source identified in the article. A right-of-reply attempt was made to every named private individual referenced in the article, and any response received was incorporated. The arrestee/charged/convicted distinction was applied to every reference to a person who has been arrested, charged, or convicted of a crime. The article was reviewed by me before publication, and an editorial checklist record was preserved.

5. To the extent the article was AI-assisted, that assistance is disclosed prominently in a banner on the article naming the tool and the reviewer. The AI prompt log and the fact-check confidence scores were recorded as part of the editorial record. No quote in the article was generated by AI; every quote is from a real person, public meeting, or public document. No photorealistic AI-generated image of a real event, person, or place appears in the article.

6. The article was published in furtherance of Pier and Point’s exercise of the right of free speech on a matter of public concern, as protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article I, Section 2 of the California Constitution.

7. The internal editorial record for the article — including the source list, the AI prompt log, the fact-check confidence scores, the right-of-reply attempts, and the editor’s sign-off — is preserved and can be produced for the Court’s review.

Executed this [DATE] in Ventura, California.

[SIGNATURE] Finn Bennett

Standing operational requirements

To make this declaration true at the time we sign it, every one of the following has to be in place before the first story publishes:

• The published policies named in paragraph 3 are live at /policies on launch day.
• The pre-publish checklist documented at editorial-checklist is run and signed off on every story.
• The AI prompt log and fact-check confidence scores are preserved per story.
• Right-of-reply attempts are documented per story, even when no response comes.
• The editor’s sign-off is timestamped and preserved.

When this is invoked

If a demand letter arrives or a defamation suit is filed, the first calls are:

1. The CNPA legal hotline.
2. The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.
3. The carrier under our media liability policy. (insurance.)

The declaration template is a starting point for the lawyer who will actually draft the motion. It is not a substitute for that lawyer.