JX Fund – European Fund for Journalism in Exile

The Media Forward Fund wants to contribute to more independent journalism outlets with viable business models that publish strong, trustworthy content and are sustainably financed in the long term. The aim of the Media Forward Fund is to strengthen journalism and thus democracy. A particular focus is on target audiences that have been underserved by the media to date.

Free Press Unlimited (FPU) is inviting applications for funding for cross-border collaborative investigative stories. Ten grants, each worth 10,000 EUR, will be awarded to teams of journalists, to produce in-depth, impactful investigative journalism that transcends national borders and addresses critical issues affecting European societies. This open call for applications is part of the Collaborative and Investigative Journalism Initiative (CIJI).

The grants, sponsored by the Fund for Investigative Journalism (FIJ), are intended to support investigative projects that break new ground and expose wrongdoing – such as corruption, malfeasance or misuse of power – in the public and private sectors.

Public and private institutions registered in a CEI Member State, NGOs/CSOs as well as international organisations, are invited to apply to the CEI Cooperation Fund, which is financed by annual contributions of all CEI Member States, for innovative actions favouring mobility and networking. Proposals need to focus on capacity building by transferring and sharing know-how.

The AIR Network Newsroom Grants provide up to $9,000 in funding for newsrooms in Southeast Asia to develop and implement a collaborative project with the AIR Network. The proposed projects should support the AIR Network’s objectives of strengthening investigative journalism, amplifying the impact of investigative journalism, and advancing safety and security for investigative journalists.

Media Innovation Europe 2.0 (MIE) is a two-year programme co-funded by the European Union aiming to provide support to the European newsrooms and individuals through business needs assessments and personalised advisory, grants, training, hackathons and mentorship to media managers and journalists that work or are building working in and building newsrooms that are moving towards a full digital transition.

This grant, mentoring and scholarships programme aims at addressing the shortage of local independent journalism by administering grants to local investigative journalistic projects in Europe and stimulating cross-border collaboration.

Internews in Kyrgyzstan seeks entries for its Aspiration contest for professional journalists. Categories include „Child welfare,“ „Environment protection,“ „Culture and enlightenment,“ and more. Entries must have been published or broadcast between Jan. 1, 2023 and Aug. 31, 2024.

The Delegation of the European Union to Georgia is organizing the EU Prize for Journalism which recognizes the work of journalists who have demonstrated integrity and professionalism in Georgia. Georgian journalists from any media including broadcast, online and print media are eligible.

This grant programme supports activities and services for environmental investigative journalism as a whole. It seeks to promote collective development to build the capacities of environmental investigative journalists, by providing funding to project ideas from organisations and institutions for training and professional development programmes, i.e. skills-focused professional training or fellowship programmes targeting investigative journalists to upskill their capacities to report on environment related issues.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the International Francophone Press Union (UPF) are accepting nominations for the Shireen Abu Akleh Prize, which recognizes the courage and commitment of women journalists. This prize is named in honor of Palestinian journalist and Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed in the Jenin refugee camp while reporting live on May 11, 2022.

This programme aims to respond to the need for media organisations across Europe to pursue different approaches to increase reader trust, audience share, and revenue by creating a cross-European solutions journalism journalism knowledge hub and encouraging systemic cooperation between professional news media organisations.

After the Taliban took power, the journalist Hamed fled Afghanistan with his family – via a German government admission program. The government promised to take in 1,000 particularly vulnerable people, such as journalists, every month. In reality, only a fraction make it.

The Taliban’s new law on the “Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice” bans journalists from publishing or broadcasting content the de facto government believes violates Sharia law or insults Muslims. Article 17 describes several restrictions on the media, including a ban on publishing or broadcasting images of living people and animals which the Taliban consider unislamic.

Afghan media in exile remain economically fragile, even though they are a widely followed source of information, according to a report by the think tank for media professionals, The Fix, and the support fund for journalism in exile, JX Fund, created in 2022 by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and its partners.

How he exiled Afghans of Amu TV are holding the Taliban to account — from 7,000 miles away. Even though it operates abroad—or perhaps because it operates abroad—Amu TV is one of the most effective chroniclers of life under Taliban rule. The Atlantic reporter Cora Engelbrecht paid a visit to their newsroom.

It is estimated that, nearly 2000 journalists have left Afghanistan since the Taliban took power in 2021. Many sought asylum in Europe and North America, while others settled in Afghanistan’s neighbouring countries. Despite severe challenges Afghan reporters in exile remain committed to keeping the flow of independent news from their homeland alive.