JX Fund – European Fund for Journalism in Exile

“A blogger and journalist from Russia. Left the country due to persecution for anti-war articles. Received political asylum in France. I write about my new life.”

Amid rising global repression and shrinking donor support, understanding how exile media remain viable, independent, and impactful is increasingly urgent. The study identifies key factors that enable media organizations to adapt, survive, and continue serving their communities from abroad. It also offers practical recommendations for exile media, media development actors, donors, and policymakers.

This research explores the gender and ethnicity-based challenges faced by Kurdish female journalists, focusing on their professional experiences in Turkey and in exile.

Galina Timchenko and Ivan Kolpakov from the exile outlet Meduza describe their struggle to keep the independent media platform alive amid heavy internet blocks in Russia and growing financial pressure. Timchenko calls it a “war of attrition” waged by the Kremlin against free media.

Swissinfo asked Olga Sadovskaya, vice-chair of rights group The Crew Against TortureExternal link and vice-president of the World Organization Against TortureExternal link, to demonstrate how Russia’s digital Iron Curtain works with and without a VPN. [Spoiler: Swissinfo’s website doesn’t load in the country without one.]

Independent media can be destroyed, journalists can be imprisoned — but they cannot be forced into silence. The starting point of the newest Belarusian history was August 9, 2020 — the day of voting in a presidential election that never truly happened. That day marked the beginning of a total purge of Belarus’s democratic society.

EUvsDisinfo has published an article detailing how Lukashenka’s regime continues its harsh retaliation against Belarusians five years after the 2020 protests. The piece highlights ongoing arrests, torture, and exile as part of the government’s efforts to suppress dissent and maintain control.

Last summer, Russian authorities began throttling YouTube playback speeds, rendering the popular video platform practically unusable. This has pushed many Russians to change their media consumption habits. Meduza analyzes the current and potential consequences of the Kremlin’s ongoing campaign against YouTube.

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.

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.

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.

Inside Russia, journalists carry on working — risking arrest, surveillance, and the safety of their families, or navigating the shifting boundaries of state censorship. Meduza spoke with several of them about the constraints they face, the stories they can no longer tell, and how they view their colleagues in exile.

This article explores how Russian opposition media, forced into exile after the 2022 crackdown, continue reaching audiences through platforms like YouTube and VPNs. It highlights their growing dependence on viewer donations, the impact of lost international funding, and the ongoing struggle to sustain independent journalism under increasing pressure.

The death of Alexei Navalny shocked the world and dealt another blow to Russia’s opposition. Navalny had united and mobilized many, but now the movement is divided. In exile, his allies clash with Khodorkovsky’s. Ilja Yashin fights irrelevance abroad, while in Russia, Yekaterina Duntsova resists repression at the local level.

Like much of Belarus’s independent media sector, Hrodna.life is struggling for sustainability in exile. Forced to relocate to the EU, the team lost not only the advertising market but also direct contact with the audience it serves. They saved themselves from prison but lost the opportunity to breathe the same air as their readers – and this is crucial for local media like theirs.

In the article, journalist Nikita Sologub shares how independent media like Mediazona continue reporting in Russia despite mounting repression. Founded to expose abuses in the Russian prison system, Mediazona has operated for over a decade, even as press freedom has deteriorated and the state increasingly targets dissenting voices.

At the 2025 International Journalism Festival in Perugia, Nick Slater spoke with Oleg Grigorenko, Editor-in-Chief of exiled Russian outlet 7×7 Horizontal Media, about how they’re using AI to fight news fatigue and reach Russian audiences with vital, independent reporting.

When William McCarren talks about press freedom today, he doesn’t speak in abstract terms. The longtime executive director of the National Press Club and now head of its new Press Freedom Center sees a world where increasingly journalists are under siege—imprisoned, exiled, injured, or killed. The Barents Observer this week takes part in a event in Washington DC on defence of free journalism.