Journalism in Exile

All knowledge on exiled journalism at one place.
Compilation of articles, reports, studies, academic research and toolkits on current global developments on media and journalism in exile.

Recommendations

Azerbaijani Journalists Confront New Realities and Old Fears

  • Global Voices
  • Arzu Geybullayeva

Arzu Geybullayeva examines the rising crisis of journalism in exile, focusing on Azerbaijani reporters forced to flee growing state repression. As global press freedom declines, Azerbaijan stands out as increasingly hostile to independent media. Exiled journalists, many now in Georgia or Europe, face surveillance, threats to loved ones, and isolation from sources.

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The Challenges of Covering Russia And Syria From Exile

  • Reuters Institute
  • Asmaa al-Omar & Maria (Masha) Kiseleva

In this special World Press Freedom Day episode of Fellowship Takeaways, a podcast by the Reuters Institute, two exiled journalists speak on covering Russia and Syria from afar. They discuss the challenges of building trust, maintaining sources’ anonymity, the emotional toll of their work and what newsrooms can do better to support journalists in exile.

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Independent Media on Myanmar’s Post-coup Front Line

  • International Crisis Group
  • Margarite Clarey

Independent media outlets exiled from Myanmar play a vital role in reporting on the civil war to destruction wrought by natural disasters, while influencing the political culture of the resistance. But, as Crisis Group expert Margarite Clarey explains, mounting challenges jeopardise these organisations’ work.

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Sudan’s Exiled Media: Fragile Sources of News About a Forgotten War

  • RSF

Since Sudan’s civil war began in April 2023, over 400 journalists have fled, and at least ten exile media outlets have emerged, mainly in Egypt, to report on the overlooked crisis. These outlets offer crucial coverage of abuses against civilians, while Reporters Without Borders (RSF) denounces the harassment they face in host countries.

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Exiled Journalism Worldwide

Exiled Sudanese Journalists Risk All to Document the War

  • The New Arab
  • Fath Al-Rahman Hamouda

Sudanese journalists forced into exile in Uganda are risking their safety to report on the war back home, ensuring the conflict remains in the global spotlight. Despite limitations, international support is emerging, with the Thomson Foundation offering programmes for civil society organisations and journalists in conflict zones, focusing on crisis communication, advocacy, resilience, and the disproportionate impact of conflict on women in media and civil society.

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Documenting the Truth: The Case of Nicaragua’s Confidencial

  • Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN)
  • Lucero Hernández García

Is reporting possible while living under persecution? When you don’t know from where you’ll be attacked, or if you will be discredited, threatened, intimidated, or forced into exile? Where the choices are sometimes as stark as choosing jail, silence, or exile? In Nicaragua, which has been governed by former guerilla fighter turned strongman Daniel Ortega since 2007, press freedom has fallen precipitously.

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Home or Exile? Syrian Journalists Grapple With New Realities

  • Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
  • Lamiya Adilgizi

After almost 14 years of civil war, the lightning overthrow of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad in December has unleashed the possibility of returning home for hundreds of exiled journalists. Complex legal and family obligations, security concerns, and sectarian tensions mean permanent return is rarely an option.

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“Exile has been both a liberation and a wound. Everything I write now carries the weight of those who stayed behind. I used to write as a mother and a citizen. Now, I write as a witness to injustice and as a bridge between those inside and outside Vietnam.”

Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, Exiled Vietnamese writer & blogger

Guides & Toolkits

Sustaining Journalism in Exile: New Toolkit Released

  • International Journalists’ Network (IJNet)

Once in exile to escape threats and danger, journalists soon face a new set of challenges: how to sustain their careers, communities and reporting from afar. ICFJ’s International Journalists’ Network (IJNet), in collaboration with the Network of Exiled Media Outlets (NEMO), has expanded its Exiled Media Toolkit to include a comprehensive section on viability, produced by ICFJ Knight Fellow José J. Nieves.

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Boosting Subscriptions with AI for Minority Languages

  • The Fix
  • Romain Chauvet

An AI translation tool, able to translate news content into a minority language, has proven successful for a media outlet in Greenland. This case could now inspire others to do the same. In 2023, the Danish tech startup MediaCatch developed an AI translation tool for Sermitsiaq, which is able to quickly translate news content into a minority language ignored by most big tech companies.

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A Handbook for Journalists in Exile in Germany

  • ECPMF

“Paving the Way” is a comprehensive handbook by the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF), designed to support journalists in exile, particularly those relocating to Germany. It offers a curated collection of resources to help media professionals navigate their new environment, including information on legal rights, housing, language acquisition, and professional integration.

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Research & Studies

Impact Report 2025: Good Journalism Needs Allies

  • IMS (International Media Support)

With the closure of USAID resulting in a 25 percent cut to the world’s media development budget, independent media outlets across the world have become more vulnerable to existential threats ranging from bombings to disinformation. It is vital that the rest of the world steps up to support journalists in these trying times.

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Don’t Shoot the Journalists: Migrating to Stay Alive

  • Anthem Press
  • Peter Laufer

Born from the University of Oregon’s international symposium on journalism-in-exile, this book gathers the reflections and accounts of journalists who have faced danger, persecution, and threats to their safety due to their commitment to journalistic integrity, while also highlighting the work of advocacy groups supporting press freedom in repressive environment.

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RSF World Press Freedom Index 2025

  • RSF

Although physical attacks against journalists are the most visible violations of press freedom, economic pressure is also a major, more insidious problem. The economic indicator on the RSF World Press Freedom Index now stands at an unprecedented, critical low as its decline continued in 2025. As a result, the global state of press freedom is now classified as a “difficult situation” for the first time in the history of the Index.

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Calls & Opportunities

Balkan Dispatch: Apply Now for BIRN’s Travel and Reporting Grants

  • Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN)

BIRN’s Reporting Democracy Travel & Reporting Programme invites journalists from the Visegrad region to apply for a grant that covers professional fees and field reporting expenses. This is a unique opportunity to report from the Balkans and gain deeper insights into the region.

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Open Call for independent European media

  • Sphera Network

Sphera Network invites independent European media outlets to submit ideas for short documentaries, aimed at exploring critical social issues through the lens of personal narratives and human-centered storytelling. The initiative also seeks to engage young Europeans (18-25 year-old) in discussions about social issues through compelling, human-centered narratives.

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The Kari Howard Fund for Narrative Journalism (2025)

  • International Women’s Media Foundation

Kari Howard loved stories that left readers feeling as though they had just met a new friend. Writers fortunate enough to work with her as their editor found themselves challenged to weave the music of everyday life and the passion of extraordinary love into the fabric of stories illuminating the most important issues of the day.

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Country Focus: Afghanistan

Truth Is an Act of Courage Paid for With Freedom

  • Focus On Africa
  • Giorgia Pietropaoli

The picture painted of Afghanistan by Amnesty International on World Press Freedom Day is bleak: the Taliban fiercely repress freedom of expression with all kinds of intimidation, arrests, torture, and media closures. A significant number of media outlets have closed due to Taliban-imposed restrictions and the economic crisis.

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Exiled Afghan Journalists Launch “Future Afghanistan”

  • IFEX

A group of Afghan journalists in exile has officially launched “Future Afghanistan,” an online media platform aimed at providing independent reporting on the situation in Afghanistan. Founded and led by Shafi Karimi, the outlet seeks to deliver comprehensive multimedia content that adheres to journalistic integrity.

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Taliban Have Detained 300 Media Workers Since 2021

  • Amu TV
  • Habib Mohammadi

The Afghanistan Journalists in Exile in a statement on Sunday said that the Taliban have detained at least 300 journalists and media workers during their three years of rule in the country, describing the detainees as having endured “profound and indescribable violence” while in custody.

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Country Focus: Belarus

Strategic Vision Paper: Exiled. Effective. Efficient.

  • Press Club Belarus

This Strategic Vision Paper is an essential guide to understanding the Belarusian media in exile. Despite relentless state terror, Belarusian media in exile continue to reach up to 39% of the audience inside the country. A striking 94% of their audience opposes the war in Ukraine – a powerful testament to the influence of independent journalism.

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How Belarus Dissidents in Exile Abroad Are Pursued

  • BBC
  • Andrey Kozenko

Dissidents who have fled Alexander Lukashenko’s rule in Belarus have spoken of threats being made against them and their relatives at home. Hundreds of thousands of Belarusians are estimated to have left their country since the brutal crackdown on widespread opposition protests in 2020, after Lukashenko, 70, claimed victory in presidential elections that were widely condemned as rigged.

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Belarus Targets Over 60 Exiled Journalists with Charges

  • Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
  • Anna Brakha

More than 60 exiled Belarusian journalists face criminal charges under opaque “special proceedings” that allow convictions in absentia. Authorities seize property, harass relatives, and label journalists as extremists in a sweeping campaign of transnational repression. Many now self-censor or work anonymously to protect themselves and their families.

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Country Focus: Russia

‘Ten million people read us — I’ll talk to them’

  • Meduza

On June 11, at Berlin’s Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien gallery, Meduza publisher Galina Timchenko sat down with sociologist Polina Aronson for a conversation about the emotional toll of today’s news cycle — on both readers and journalists. One of the questions raised during the Q&A was how censorship is reshaping the ways newsrooms connect with their audiences.

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Exiled Journalist Uncovers Alleged War Profiteering in Ukraine

  • ICFJ
  • Héloïse Hakimi Le Grand

“This is evidence for the future. It’s critical to document these crimes now, even if justice is delayed,” says Maria Zholobova, a Russian journalist in exile and an ICFJ Jim Hoge Reporting Fellow, who investigated how the son of Ukraine’s ousted president allegedly profits from Ukraine’s Russian-occupied territories.

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Junge Presse-Podcast on Exiled Journalism

  • Junge Presse

This podcast episode features a conversation with Sergey Lukashevskiy about his work as a Russian exile journalist in Germany. Having lived in Germany since 2022, he is developing “Radio Sakharov” as a media outlet for the Russian exile community. He discusses the challenges of reporting from exile, and the state of human rights and press freedom in Russia.

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