JX Fund – European Fund for Journalism in Exile

César Batiz is the winner of the 2025 ICFJ Knight International Journalism Award. Batiz is a Venezuelan investigative journalist and co-founder of El Pitazo, which has pioneered innovative methods to bypass government control in one of the world’s most restrictive media environments.

A Venezuelan journalist in exile, César Batiz is the innovative co-founder of El Pitazo, which continues to deliver news in the face of state censorship. Batiz, who is the winner of the 2025 ICFJ Knight International Journalism Award, delivered the following remarks on Nov. 13 at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, DC, at the ICFJ Awards Dinner 2025.

As part of the University of Texas at Austin’s International Education Week, leading journalists from three of the most affected countries will share their experiences of reporting in exile as part of a special virtual panel organized by the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas.

Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo have extended the censorship imposed by their co-presidential regime to the internet. This effectively closes off the last remaining bastion of freedom of expression and of the press in Nicaragua for dissenting voices.

She didn’t want to go into exile, but she had no choice: journalist Mascha Borzunova had to flee Russia. In Hamburg, exiled journalists from Russia, Egypt and Afghanistan describe their situation, pursued even in Germany. “At least we survived and still have readers in Russia,” says Katerina Abramova of Meduza.

Interpol has rejected a request from Kyrgyz authorities to issue an international warrant for the co-founder of one of the country’s leading independent media outlets, calling the request politically motivated. OCCRP learned Thursday that Kyrgyzstan had asked Interpol to issue a so-called Red Notice for Rinat Tuhvatshin, the co-founder of Kloop, an award-winning outlet.

While independent online media outlets lost most of their funds due to current legislation, Georgia’s ruling party is said to be spending millions on favorable media organizations. In recent months, dozens of NGOs and media organizations have been subjected to inspections under the new laws, while many others have been forced to scale back or suspend their activities to avoid punitive consequences.

“In 2024, journalism in Latin America faced one of its most hostile environments in decades.” That’s the conclusion of the annual report from Voces del Sur, a coalition of 17 groups from across Latin America that promote freedom of expression and the protection of journalists.

The following resolution was adopted by the members of the International Press Institute (IPI) on October 15, 2025 by unanimous vote of those present at the 74th annual General Assembly, and presented at the IPI World Congress on October 25, 2025 in Vienna, Austria. Democratic states must adopt a comprehensive approach to assisting and protecting exiled journalists so they can continue their critical mission of informing the public and holding power to account.

When war broke out in Sudan in April 2023, a group of young Sudanese filmmakers were forced into exile. They also had to rethink their film. Khartoum (2025) had started out a year earlier as a collection of quiet observational sketches of ordinary lives in the capital. Now, it had to be reimagined as both the storytellers and their subjects scattered across borders.

On the second day of the 81st General Assembly of the Inter American Press Association (IAPA), the panel titled “Anatomy of Authoritarian Advance: Handbook of Tactics and Their Effect on the Media” was held, in which the strategies of authoritarian regimes to weaken press freedom in the region were presented.

Polish politicians and government officials have voiced support for the Myanmar media and free speech to a delegation of Myanmar independent media houses on a recent study trip to Poland that included a workshop on disinformation and misinformation. The study trip for Myanmar independent media was supported by the Embassy of Poland in Bangkok.

The civil war in Sudan has displaced over 13 million people. It’s left more than 30 million in need of aid, of which just under 25 million are undergoing acute hunger. Within the vast scope of this humanitarian crisis, journalists on the ground in Sudan are being killed or displaced. This, in turn, is limiting the vital flow of information both inside and out of the country.

The team of the revolutionary newspaper Enab Baladi has returned to Syria. Why it is important to show a presence on the ground now is explained by co-founder Kholoud Helmi.

On a typical evening in the heart of Paris, Taha Siddiqui can be found at his bar, greeting customers and pouring drinks. During busy nights, he’s organizing events there, with an Afghan poet reading her work, anti-war Russian musicians in a punk band, or a director sharing their documentary — all, like him, finding refuge in France. But long before he became a bar owner, Siddiqui was one of Pakistan’s most high-profile investigative journalists, determined to expose corruption and government abuses. In 2018, he fled to Paris, where he has lived in exile ever since.

The main association monitoring attacks on journalists in El Salvador has become the latest victim of the country’s controversial Foreign Agents Law. The Salvadoran Journalists Association (APES, for its acronym in Spanish) announced on Oct. 1 that it will go into exile as a result of the law, which requires organizations receiving foreign funds to register with the government and levies large fines for those who don’t comply.

On September 22, the Václav Havel Library hosted a discussion titled “How to Run Media from Exile and Remain Relevant in Your Country – The Story of Mizzima and Myanmar’s Independent Media.” The event brought together Soe Myint, Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief of Mizzima, Toe Zaw Latt, General Secretary of the Independent Press Council of Myanmar, and No No Lin, Deputy Director of Mizzima Media.

Article on how intergovernmental organisations address the challenges faced by journalists in exile, highlighting threats like transnational repression, gaps in legal protection, and emerging support mechanisms. The United Nations Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity, adopted in 2012, does not even mention journalists in exile.