JX Fund – European Fund for Journalism in Exile

The Voices Awards is an international competition rewarding innovative ideas and changemakers in the fields of journalism and media freedom, which awards 25 projects with €1,200. This amount is intended to cover both the prize money and the necessary travel and accommodation expenses for the winner to attend the Voices Festival in November, where the winners will be presented.

The Invisible Life grant programme will form part of Journalismfund’s Environmental Investigative Journalism Grant programme, to raise awareness, increase transparency and promote well-informed public debate on food and sustainability by supporting journalists. The focus is on the lives and welfare of farmed animals.

Two separate opportunities are available: you may apply for a grant (which includes participation in the event if selected), or apply to attend as a participant (call for participation will be open from 6 July to 1 September 2026). Separate applications are required. Grant recipients will automatically be registered to attend the event in Strasbourg on 9–10 November.

The Fund for Investigative Journalism provides grants and other support for reporters to produce high-quality, unbiased, nonpartisan investigative stories that have an impact. Freelance journalists, staff reporters and media outlets are eligible for grants, and their investigations can be for print, online or broadcast stories, books, documentaries or podcasts.

Coffee in the morning, fear by afternoon: an Afghan journalist works undercover for an exiled media outlet, dreading every knock at the gate. After interviewing a woman with a disability about domestic violence, she halts publication — fearing surveillance cameras could expose her identity.

Amu TV was born out of the collapse of Afghanistan’s media landscape, and is one of the most influential exiled media outlets serving Afghanistan today. By broadcasting via satellite from the US, the channel has bypassed Taliban censorship and reached millions of viewers inside the country, offering a rare space for uncensored news, political debate, entertainment, and more.

In a series of workshops, exiled journalists now living in the UK told how all faced significant barriers to continuing their careers. Many struggled to gain a foothold in the UK media industry, so the Rory Peck Trust is partnering with City St George’s, University of London, to enable one journalist-in-exile to complete an M.A. in International Journalism.

In this podcast episode of Booda Media’s “Fasl-e-Digher” program, Lina Rozbeh, a renowned Afghan poet, writer and journalists talks about women, migration, war, identity, freedom, the Taliban and the current situation and future of Afghanistan. Moreover, she discusses her experience in media and literature, the fate of women, the role of intellectuals and the responsibility of media.

The Pulitzer Center seeks applications for enterprise and underreported stories about global health inequities and challenges. They are interested in ambitious projects about systemic barriers to all sorts of care, as well as promising research, treatment advances, or emerging health threats that merit investigation and more.

This opportunity is open to all newsrooms and independent journalists worldwide. They value data, investigative, and accountability journalism projects that tackle systemic issues and hold to account powerful local figures. You decide what underreported stories your community needs to engage with, and they support that reporting and champion it.

The Pulitzer Center encourages proposals that push the envelope in data collection and analysis and make use of advanced data mining techniques, such as machine learning. They seek compelling data-driven storytelling, based on original data collection and analysis and strong visuals, that has the potential to shape public discourse and hold the powerful accountable.

The Plus Hub is a shared services initiative from ICFJ+ that gives news providers access to shared, enterprise-level technical support and services they can’t afford on their own. Their goal is to provide critical infrastructure for civic intelligence. If your media organisation is interested in receiving digital protection, apply here.

A number of journalists in Afghanistan say the process of reporting has become increasingly difficult. They say they live under constant fear of surveillance, arrest, and pressure by the Taliban. According to these journalists, working with exile media outlets is considered a crime by the Taliban, and journalists themselves are treated as criminals.

After growing up stateless in Iran, Haideh Faghiry finally found a sense of home in Kabul—until the Taliban takeover forced her to flee again. In this Tagesspiegel essay, the Afghan journalist reflects on exile, belonging and the pain of losing a homeland twice.

Several journalists working under Taliban rule have expressed concern over the intensifying crackdown on the media and the complete restriction of access to information. According to them, no media outlet under Taliban control can publish the existing realities and can only disseminate content that the Taliban permit.

Since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021, Afghan women have been pushed out of schools, workplaces, and public life with a speed that shocked the world. In a matter of days, freedoms that had taken years to build disappeared. Yet in those early weeks, before fear could fully take hold, some women stepped outside and raised their voices.

Exiled Afghan journalists are keeping critical reporting alive through Amu TV and its flagship show Jan-e-Gap, broadcasting from studios in the U.S., Canada, France, and Turkey. Host Sadaf Rahimi and co-founders Lotfullah Najafizada and Sami Mahdi connect millions of Afghan viewers to open debate, exposing abuses and giving a voice to those silenced under the Taliban.

Afghan journalists and media workers in Pakistan live in fear of arrest and deportation as authorities crack down on refugees. Many fled Taliban rule, and rights groups warn that forced returns could put them at serious risk of persecution, highlighting the precarious situation of exiled journalists in the region.