JX Fund – European Fund for Journalism in Exile

The Taliban claim that there is freedom of the press in the country. Even Western Youtubers are allowed to come – if they report positively and adhere to strict conditions.

The Etilaat Roz was once the most widely circulated newspaper in Kabul, but everything changed in August 2021 when the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan. In this unique video diary, journalist Abbas Rezaie follows the tenacious correspondents as they continue to report the news.

When Russia imposed harsh laws on reporters covering its invasion of Ukraine, dozens fled. But physical distance doesn’t always keep exiled journalists safe. The American journalist Liam Scott met some of them in Berlin. Watch his full video report on security for Russian journalists in exile here.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is alarmed by a worrying increase in the restrictions imposed on journalists, with authoritarian directives on women journalists’ dress, restrictions on women’s access to the audiovisual media and a ban on filming or photographing Taliban officials.

In the first two months of 2024, the Russian parliament has approved new laws ramping up pressure on journalists and public figures critical of the war on Ukraine. The new laws were adopted two years after the enactment of wartime censorship in Russia, which forced many independent journalists to flee.

Zahra Nader ist the founder and editor-in-chief of the Afghan Magazine Zan Times. For the Institute of War & Peace Reporting she reflects on her mission and shares what helps her to keep fighting for equality and justice in Afghanistan.

Nadio Momand was a journalist and a law student in Afghanistan. But with the Taliban back in power, she has left her home and her dreams behind.

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.

Russia’s lower house of parliament, the State Duma, unanimously approved a bill banning advertising on publications by “foreign agents”, a designation authorities have given to anti-Kremlin politicians, activists and media.

In an interview with Le Monde, the Russian exiled journalist and opponent of the Putin regime talks about her work in Ukraine documenting the abuses committed by Russian forces and her hopes for the future of her country

With 29 journalists currently imprisoned, and 280 journalists and media organisations proclaimed “foreign agents”, Russia sits almost at the bottom of the Press Freedom Index. Even for those in exile, the danger remains.

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.

Publications like The Insider are caught between state censorship and hostile platform dynamics.

In exile, once-profitable independent Russian media outlets have been severed from what had been their main base of subscribers and advertisers, who are forbidden from supporting them. Their business models are no longer viable.

Former Afghan journalist Hedayatullah Zyarmal, who now lives in Bruchhausen-Vilsen, talks about his desire to continue his media work and the hurdles he has to overcome.

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, there have been numerous scandals related to the surveillance of Russians abroad by Moscow’s intelligence services and alleged Russian spies working in foreign countries.

Exiled Russian journalists, countering Kremlin control abroad, face a lot of risks and funding challenges. Navigating exile, they strive to keep Russian journalism alive.