JX Fund – European Fund for Journalism in Exile

Opponents of Russia’s war against Ukraine are discovering that their government ID cards have been canceled since they fled Russia. Deutsche Welle spoke to those affected.

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.

From Afghanistan and Russia, to Venezuela, Eritrea and beyond, journalists globally have fled – and continue to flee – threats to their lives and livelihoods under authoritarian regimes. Entire newsrooms in these contexts, too, have shuttered operations to avoid imminent danger to their employees and financial ruin.

Threats, repression, conflict, and unrest: across the world, these and other factors are pushing journalists into exile in record numbers. In a striking development, exiled or soon-to-be exiled journalists now make up more than half of the people CPJ assists. While exile is a global issue, three countries — Russia, Iran, and Afghanistan — stand out as places from which journalists flee only to face further insecurity. Below, find case studies on each country.

The 2024 Digital News Report Reuters Institute reveals new findings about the consumption of online news globally. It is based on a YouGov survey of more than 95,000 people in 47 countries representing half of the world’s population. The report looks at the growing importance of platforms in news consumption and production, including more visual and video-led social media such as TikTok, Instagram and YouTube.

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.

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.

In the investigative journalist Elena Kostyuchenko’s new book about Russia, resistance is carried out through small, discreet acts.

The survival of exiled media relies on the survival of media professionals, emphasizing the importance of protecting journalists’ rights to practice their profession securely. A research report by the Exile Hub now sheds light on the critical situation of exiled women journalists from Myanmar.

Small newsrooms need to focus on the importance of data use more than ever. But they often face numerous hurdles to this kind of work, including a lack of funding, limited human resources, and outdated thinking about what constitutes traditional journalism.

YouTube remains the only major US-based social media platform available in Russia. It’s become “indispensable” to everyday people, making a ban tricky. Journalists and dissidents are taking advantage.

“I consider this label repressive. But I can say for sure that we will continue to work, whatever they call us,” says Daria Poryadina, editor of the exile-Russian news outlet SOTA, that got declared an ‘undesirable organization’ by Russia’s Prosecutor General on May 16.

A Moscow Court has registered a misdemeanor case accusing Meduza co-founder Galina Timchenko of participating in an “undesirable organization,” Mediazona reported on May 27, citing online records.

Journalism has moved online, exposing journalists to targeted attacks and surveillance. This guide helps building digital armor, protecting data, sources, and critical work in an evolving digital landscape.

Journalists today are often primary targets of online harassment, trolling, doxxing, hacking and spyware. In addition to abuse from anonymous users online, they are also subject to surveillance, intimidation and persecution by powerful entities like large corporations, legal and local authorities, or the state machinery at large.

Tackling Disinformation: A Learning Guide offers insights for evaluating media development activities and rethinking approaches to disinformation, alongside practical solutions and expert advice, with a focus on the Global South and Eastern Europe.

Podcast radios are becoming a new media niche in the Russian media landscape challenged by war-reinforced oppression. The Fix talked with Maksim Kurnikov, the head of Ekho Online, which was the first in the Russian media landscape to launch such a service, and Polina Filippova, the producer of podcasts of Radio Sakharov, which has been operating for a year.