JX Fund – European Fund for Journalism in Exile

TV Rain’s editor-in-chief Tikhon Dzyadko talks about stereotypes surrounding Russian journalists in exile and what marks them different from their colleagues in the Baltic states and Ukraine.

In Spring 2024, a delegation from the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF) conducted a press freedom fact-finding mission to Tbilisi, Georgia as part of a project funded by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). Today, ECPMF publishes a report detailing the findings of the mission, which paint a picture of independent media in the midst of an existential crisis.

When forcing journalists into exile fails to silence them, authoritarian governments turn to transnational repression. Read here how Cuban repression has followed editor José Jasán Nieves Cárdenas to the United States.

At least 300 journalists have fled Nicaragua, Ecuador and Guatemala and gone into exile in recent years, according to various press freedom organizations. Numbers from Venezuela are unavailable, but that country has experienced a mass exodus of millions, including journalists.

The investigative beat has never been an easy one in Latin America. From reporting under authoritarian regimes to confronting significant security risks in a region that faces the added challenge of impunity, and from the difficulties of reporting amidst persistent financial struggles to handling the backlash that comes with exposing acts of corruption — the circumstances facing reporters have long been challenging.

On June 18, 2024, Kazakhstani opposition journalist Aidos Sadykov, who received political asylum in Ukraine 10 years ago, was shot outside of his Kyiv apartment. Meduza shares an abridged translation of a report by Mediazona Central Asia on who Sadykov was, why he was forced into exile, and what we know about his murder.

Four years after the enactment of a draconian national security law – a turning point in the decline of press freedom in Hong Kong – Reporters Without Borders (RSF) takes a closer look at the plight of exiled journalists and calls for greater support for their diaspora-led media.

With conflict, repression and censorship driving large numbers of media into exile, VOA spoke with journalists on the front lines: from navigating gang violence in Ecuador, assassination plots targeting Iranian journalists on British and U.S. soil, and repressive policies affecting Afghan media.

This documentary explores the systematic suppression of media and freedom of expression by authoritarian regimes in Russia, Turkey, and Belarus and the state of exiled journalism – through interviews with journalists, who risk their lives to uphold the truth.

At least 26 governments have targeted journalists abroad, according to Freedom House, which has identified 112 incidents against journalists from 2014 to 2023, including assault, detention, unlawful deportation, rendition, and assassination. For some journalists, leaving the country might not always guarantee safety.

On the only radio station in the remote Ecuadorian town of Baeza, morning show host Juan Carlos Tito updates listeners on the weather, recent power outages, and repairs to a bridge spanning a nearby river. For the last 24 years, Tito, 53, has been the trusted voice of Radio Selva, broadcasting important community news to this town of 2,000 in the Andean highlands. But now, Tito’s voice is beamed into Baeza from abroad.

Ethiopian journalist Belete Kassa fled the country after his colleague Belaye Manaye was detained in a desert military camp. As crackdowns on the press escalate, dozens of Ethiopian journalists face exile, harassment, and threats.

The Iranian diaspora is hopelessly divided. The historian and political scientist Arash Azizi on the failure of the protests, the influence from exile and dealing with reformers.

Moscow’s Dorogomilovsky District Court arrested in absentia TV Rain journalist and former IStories employee Ekaterina Fomina and IStories’ editor-in-chief Roman Anin. The journalists are accused of spreading so-called “fakes” about the Russian army with the motive of political hatred.

In recent years, Germany has become a place of refuge for hundreds of journalists who have had to flee their home countries. Many now continue to work from here and try to improve conditions in their countries of origin. Can they succeed?

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and its local partner, the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM) warn that Syria, ranked 179/180 on the world press freedom index, remains as dangerous as ever for news professionals and calls for the protection of Syrian journalists in exile.

Russian exiled media and activists held a telethon  in support of the growing number of political prisoners inside Russia, raising tens of thousands of euros for those currently held behind bars.

Valera Ilinov, the founder of the leading independent media outlet covering the republic of Komi, sees his work as inherently political and decolonial. Last month, the 24-year-old founder of Komi’s flagship independent news outlet Komi Daily was fined for violating Russia’s censorship laws twice in one week.