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Amal Clooney is using her platform and experience to speak out about the state of journalism around the world and why we should be concerned. On September 28, the Clooney Foundation’s Instagram shared a portion of her discussion with some of the biggest names in journalism at the University of Oxford about protecting freedom of the press. 

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Amal is a visiting professor and co-founder of the Oxford Institute of Technology and Justice. “Our topic tonight is: how can we protect freedom of the press?” she said after pointing out many in the audience were her students.

Before the conversation could even get going, Amal pointed out just how quickly things had changed. “I was looking at my notes and realized they all needed to be updated just from what’s happened this week,” the human rights lawyer told the audience.

The 48-year-old highlighted several recent developments, including two podcasters who were reportedly barred from entering the United Kingdom before an appearance at Oxford, “basically because the government didn’t like their opinions,” protests in the Maldives following the arrest of journalists who “exposed alleged corruption and adultery” by the country’s president, and the firing of veteran 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley from CBS after 37 years.

Amal explained that these incidents point to a much bigger problem. “These are, of course, not isolated incidents,” she said. “They are emblematic of trends that we’re seeing in many countries all over the world and even in democracies.”

Amal has spent years working on cases involving freedom of expression, international law, human rights, and holding powerful people accountable. She also co-founded the Clooney Foundation for Justice with her famous husband, George Clooney, in 2016. The organization works to advance justice through accountability for human rights abuses and provides legal support to people whose rights have been violated.  

The mother of twins has represented journalists who have faced prosecution and detention, including Nobel Peace Prize winner and Rappler CEO Maria Ressa, who was a part of the discussion with Reuters Editor-in-Chief Alessandra Galloni, Committee to Protect Journalists CEO Jodie Ginsberg and The Economist Editor-in-Chief Zanny Minton Beddoes. The prominent journalists have worked across different countries and media organizations with the common concern about independent journalism.

They discussed the challenges and what needs to happen to protect a free press, making it clear that this issue doesn’t just affect journalists. 

Why protecting journalism matters

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When people think about threats to the press, they might imagine reporters being arrested, kicked out of press conferences, or news outlets being shut down.

But the attack on journalism can look like restrictions on what reporters can publish, intimidation, and interference that make it harder for them to do their jobs.

When journalists cannot freely investigate powerful people or report on issues that matter to the public, everyone loses access to information that helps them understand what’s happening around them, who to hold accountable, and how to change it. It also makes it easier for governments, even democratic ones, to silence and hide issues. 

More information about Hayden Panettiere’s final days is starting to come to light. After passing away at the age of 36, it was recently revealed that she had sought treatment just weeks leading up to her death. Now, it’s been reported that a welfare check was conducted just one week before she passed.

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According to Us Weekly, which obtained a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department call report, deputies conducted a welfare check at the actress’ West Hollywood apartment on August 9.

The heavily redacted report does not identify Panettiere by name, but a source with knowledge of the situation confirmed to Us that the call concerned the Nashville star.

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According to the report, someone contacted authorities around 10 p.m. after becoming concerned about a woman at the residence who was not responding to phone calls.

“She had become unresponsive to many people in her circle, and there was concern,” a source tells Us.

When deputies arrived at the apartment, they were reportedly told that the woman had been “sick all day” and “did not feel good.”

The source claims Panettiere’s on-again, off-again boyfriend, Brian Hickerson, was the person who answered the door.

The source also alleges that, after Panettiere was hospitalized in the days before her death, she told a friend who came to visit that Hickerson had taken her phone. Us could not independently verify that claim.

The welfare check happened exactly one week before Panettiere was found unresponsive at a South Carolina Airbnb. She was 36.

Panettiere had recently been in treatment

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The new report comes after Page Six revealed that Panettiere had recently completed a two- to three-week stay at a treatment facility in Malibu, California.

Her father, Skip Panettiere, told investigators about the stay, while one of the Hickerson brothers separately said she had been at the facility “up until a few weeks ago.”

Panettiere later traveled from Los Angeles to Greenville, South Carolina, with Hickerson. According to investigators, she was found unresponsive the following day.

A Hickerson family member told authorities that Panettiere was found face down on a sofa bed. He said she appeared “purple in color” and that he administered Narcan twice before the brothers called 911 and began CPR.

Emergency responders continued efforts to revive her for roughly 30 minutes before she was pronounced dead shortly after 2:30 p.m. Panettiere’s official cause of death was later determined to be the toxic effects of fentanyl, 4-ANPP, alprazolam, methocarbamol, and quetiapine. Her manner of death was ruled an accident.

Deputies had been called to her apartment before

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The August 9 welfare check was not the only time law enforcement responded to Panettiere’s apartment.

The sheriff’s call report also details multiple incidents in 2025 involving an unidentified man at the West Hollywood complex.

On August 4, deputies were called after a white male wearing no shoes was reportedly seen attempting to enter a unit. The man had left before officers arrived, and authorities described the situation as an “ongoing issue.”

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Police advised the caller to change the locks and contact them if the man returned. Later that afternoon, authorities were called again after the same individual was reportedly seen entering and leaving the apartment complex.

The document shows another call to the apartment on September 8, 2025. This time, an unidentified white male was reportedly in the building’s garage and “refused to leave.”

The heavily redacted report does not identify the man as Hickerson, and it is unclear whether he was involved in any of the incidents.

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TMZ had previously reported that neighbors were instructed to call 911 if Hickerson was seen at the property. In an interview airing on Inside Edition, Mia Terrazzas, a neighbor of Panettiere in West Hollywood, described years of disturbances she says she witnessed at the actress’ apartment building.

Terrazzas told Inside Edition that she called 911 at least six times to report disturbances at Panettiere’s home. She also shared a photo of a notice that was reportedly posted by the property’s homeowners association, urging residents to call 911 if Hickerson was seen at the complex.

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The notices were reportedly taken down about a week later. Terrazzas said she tried putting them back up, but the HOA removed them again.

The neighbor said she was “terrified” of Hickerson, claiming he continued living at Panettiere’s home.

“This predator was in our community,” Terrazzas told Inside Edition. She also alleged that Hickerson caused damage inside the home, including an incident in which she said he “took a sledgehammer at 5 in the morning” to Panettiere’s bathroom.

Terrazzas also recalled seeing Panettiere being taken from the property by medical personnel on multiple occasions.

“I saw her leave, I think twice, in a gurney being taken away and didn’t know what was occurring at that time, but she appeared to be injured,” she said.

Hickerson has previously faced domestic violence charges involving Panettiere. Following an April 2020 incident, he pleaded no contest to two felony counts and was sentenced in 2021 to 45 days in county jail, four years of probation and domestic violence classes. He was also placed under a five-year restraining order.