The US First Amendment is seen as setting a high standard for free speech, but there are many questions over how it should be interpreted in the information age. The new centre will examine this issues, Poynter reports, hoping to to bring clarity to them.

According to Nieman Lab, the non-profit will specifically focus on litigation, research and scholarship around freedom of speech issues online.

The press release announcing the new centre highlights a recent poll according to which newsroom editors believe the news industry is not as capable of pursuing legal cases around free speech issues as it was 10 years ago. Most editors also agreed that First Amendment law was not up to date with the digital age.