JX Fund – European Fund for Journalism in Exile

In this interview, investigative journalist Roman Anin, founder of IStories, discusses his work in exile, the risks faced by his team, and the challenges of reporting on corruption and the war in Ukraine. Despite threats, he remains committed to documenting crimes and holding powerful figures accountable.

In Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, where news reporting has been transformed from a process of awakening and raising awareness—crucial for the development of critical knowledge in society—into a dreary, unbearable exercise in censorship and propaganda, the only hope for citizens lies in social networks and media outlets that reject the Taliban’s order and operate from outside the country.

In this episode of „Survive and Thrive“, Zahra Nader, founder and editor-in-chief of the award-winning Zan Times, talks about journalism as a form of resistance and the struggle to stay afloat reporting on women and LGBTQI+ people in Afghanistan.

Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022, the Russian regime has targeted journalists on the frontlines with deliberate attacks, leading to numerous deaths and injuries among women reporters. This campaign of terror aims to suppress independent reporting and obscure the realities of the conflict.

This report challenges the claims that there is no civil society to speak of inside the Russian Federation and that most of its activists are now in exile. A significant number of independent and democratically oriented initiatives and organizations continue to operate throughout the country to address societal issues through civic engagement. These should be acknowledged.

As Russia’s authoritarian regime tightens its grip, independent journalists in exile are building a foundation for a democratic future. By engaging youth, amplifying Indigenous voices, and preserving history, these journalists defy state repression, offering hope for Russia’s long-term political transformation despite the immense risks.

Afghanistan under Taliban rule is more than just the „worst“ place for women—it’s a catastrophic reality of oppression. Forced marriages, executions, and a brutal denial of basic rights are just the beginning of the horrors Afghan girls and women endure daily.

Taliban laws and restrictions make journalism in Afghanistan increasingly challenging. But media in exile are ensuring that voices of women and others are still being amplified.

FRF Think Tank presents a policy brief addressing the situation of Russian citizens seeking protection in the EU, set against the backdrop of a severely deteriorating human rights situation in Russia following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Siyar Sirat is a journalist with experience in various media organizations in Afghanistan. He has been living in exile for three years. For Amu TV, he wrote down how the day the Taleban took power in Kabul is haunting him.

A third of the victims of Russia’s „foreign agents“ law are independent media, which makes them the primary target of this legislation — and highlights their systematic legal persecution. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has analysed the Ministry of Justice’s blacklists of „foreign agents“ and „undesirable organisations“ – which are used as tools of censorship – and condemns the stigmatisation of independent media as a fifth column.

The legal basis for combating independent media and media professionals in Russia emerged in the 2010s. In the 2020s, the state significantly expanded its options for repression. Media outlets and individuals were declared foreign agents and the number of cases against media professionals based on extremism paragraphs increased. This report provides an overview of the latest developments.

According to a survey of Russian media professionals in exile, most of them do not live in the EU but in other countries (Georgia, Armenia, Central Asia, Serbia, etc.) despite the high risks due to a lack of legal options and insufficient financial resources. On behalf of RSF, the Russian human rights organization Mass Media Defence Center has prepared an analysis of the situation of independent journalists from Russia in exile.

Russian exiled media and activists held a telethon  in support of the growing number of political prisoners inside Russia, raising tens of thousands of euros for those currently held behind bars.

In the investigative journalist Elena Kostyuchenko’s new book about Russia, resistance is carried out through small, discreet acts.

YouTube remains the only major US-based social media platform available in Russia. It’s become “indispensable” to everyday people, making a ban tricky. Journalists and dissidents are taking advantage.

The journalism landscape in Afghanistan has undergone a significant and distressing transformation following the withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan and the return of the Taliban to power in August 2021.

The death of Aleksei A. Navalny in a Russian prison has been a blow to an opposition movement in which he was the figurehead. But it has also raised hopes of a united front against President Vladimir V. Putin.