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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.
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.
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.
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.
This briefing paper “Navigating Instability” outlines an initial framework for responding to the challenges faced by exiled media, based on over 20 years of IMS support. With input from exiled media leaders, IMS’ Exiled Media Working Group has identified five key phases of transition and evolution that media in exile experience.
Report for the World and Columbia University (SIPA) have launched The Path to Impact: Insights from Global Majority Newsrooms, an impact report highlighting the global impact of local journalism in Asia, Africa, Europe, and South America.
This report “2024: Confronting Political Pressure, Disinformation, and the Erosion of Media Independence” identifies serious threats, including the digital surveillance of journalists and its risks to source confidentiality, the transnational repression of journalists—particularly from Russia and Belarus—and the trend of media capture by governments in some countries.
The Justice for Journalists Foundation (JFJ) released a report examining the key trends and developments in the media landscape of 12 post-Soviet states (excluding the Baltic States) over the past eight years. The report, compiled in collaboration with local partners, highlights significant changes and challenges faced by the media in these countries since 2017.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has released its 2024 Assistance Report, revealing a growing trend of forced exile among journalists worldwide. In 2024, the organization allocated 70% of its emergency funds to relocating over 700 persecuted journalists and provided financial aid to 42 media outlets facing crises.
China, Israel, and Myanmar emerged as the world’s three worst offenders in another record-setting year for journalists jailed because of their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists’ 2024 prison census has found. Belarus and Russia rounded out the top five, with CPJ documenting its second-highest number of journalists behind bars.
The joint report by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) documented 336 cases of human rights violations against media professionals between August 2021 and September 2024.
The sports outlet «Tribuna» is actively expanding its network of apps and services – cutting-edge not just for Belarus, but for the entire region. Belarusian Association of Journalists spoke with Tribuna’s director, Maksim Berazinski, about how modern technologies are being integrated into their journalistic and editorial work.
As global crises, authoritarianism, and threats to press freedom escalate, more journalists are forced to flee their home countries, making independent journalism one of the most dangerous professions today. The recently published study by Körber Stiftung sheds light on the growing scale and challenges of exiled journalism in Germany.
The role of journalism in authoritarian and conflict-affected regions remains as crucial as it has ever been. While technological advances provide new opportunities for newsgathering, there are still plenty of pitfalls for those who are trying to convey the truth.
Women Press Freedom identifies transnational repression as a significant threat to journalists who have fled authoritarian regimes, highlighting the increased use of tactics like surveillance, harassment, and violence to silence dissent beyond national borders. According to the report, 50% of exiled women journalists were targeted through transnational repression reside in the EU.
This report covers the period from 2021 to 2023, during which almost 70% of all attacks on media workers in Russia have been recorded since monitoring began in 2017. The attacks of the Russian authorities on journalists and bloggers over the past three years have taken on an unprecedented scale.
The 2024 Digital News Report Reuters Institute reveals new findings about the consumption of online news globally. It is based on a YouGov survey of more than 95,000 people in 47 countries representing half of the world’s population. The report looks at the growing importance of platforms in news consumption and production, including more visual and video-led social media such as TikTok, Instagram and YouTube.
A new report just published from the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) shows that most “OECD DAC members are aware of the importance of the integrity of information environments to achieve their development and foreign policy objectives, and of the central role played by public interest media”. But even as autocratisation has risen, disinformation has surged and the financial threats confronting independent media have become existential, they have with just a few exceptions proved unable to increase their support for the sector.