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This Strategic Vision Paper is an essential guide to understanding the Belarusian media in exile. Despite relentless state terror, Belarusian media in exile continue to reach up to 39% of the audience inside the country. A striking 94% of their audience opposes the war in Ukraine – a powerful testament to the influence of independent journalism.
Although physical attacks against journalists are the most visible violations of press freedom, economic pressure is also a major, more insidious problem. The economic indicator on the RSF World Press Freedom Index now stands at an unprecedented, critical low as its decline continued in 2025. As a result, the global state of press freedom is now classified as a “difficult situation” for the first time in the history of the Index.
The article by Maria Savushkina reflects on her personal experiences of fleeing Belarus in 2021 to escape arrest and then fleeing Ukraine after the war began. Through these traumatic journeys, she shares her insights on how oppression and war can profoundly change individuals. Savushkina also reflects on the human cost of conflict and the evolving threats posed by drones.
This briefing paper “Navigating Instability” outlines an initial framework for responding to the challenges faced by exiled media, based on over 20 years of IMS support. With input from exiled media leaders, IMS’ Exiled Media Working Group has identified five key phases of transition and evolution that media in exile experience.
Report for the World and Columbia University (SIPA) have launched The Path to Impact: Insights from Global Majority Newsrooms, an impact report highlighting the global impact of local journalism in Asia, Africa, Europe, and South America.
This report “2024: Confronting Political Pressure, Disinformation, and the Erosion of Media Independence” identifies serious threats, including the digital surveillance of journalists and its risks to source confidentiality, the transnational repression of journalists—particularly from Russia and Belarus—and the trend of media capture by governments in some countries.
The Justice for Journalists Foundation (JFJ) released a report examining the key trends and developments in the media landscape of 12 post-Soviet states (excluding the Baltic States) over the past eight years. The report, compiled in collaboration with local partners, highlights significant changes and challenges faced by the media in these countries since 2017.
In the final quarter of 2024, there was a rise in the criminal prosecution of journalists, both domestically and in absentia, along with more frequent searches of journalists’ homes and offices, and a wider scope of censorship. The Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) has documented these alarming developments in a recent statement.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has released its 2024 Assistance Report, revealing a growing trend of forced exile among journalists worldwide. In 2024, the organization allocated 70% of its emergency funds to relocating over 700 persecuted journalists and provided financial aid to 42 media outlets facing crises.
China, Israel, and Myanmar emerged as the world’s three worst offenders in another record-setting year for journalists jailed because of their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists’ 2024 prison census has found. Belarus and Russia rounded out the top five, with CPJ documenting its second-highest number of journalists behind bars.
41 Belarusian journalists remain behind bars since 2020, punished for covering protests against presidential election fraud that gave Alexander Lukashenko a sixth term in power. Their prison sentences range from 3 to 15 years, simply for doing their jobs — reporting the news. Hundreds more have fled the country. Yet they continue their work. Why?
The joint report by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) documented 336 cases of human rights violations against media professionals between August 2021 and September 2024.
The autocratic playbook of abusing or introducing economic laws to curtail journalists and newsrooms by attacking their credibility and financial viability is sharply outlined in a new report by WAN-IFRA and the IAPA.
As global crises, authoritarianism, and threats to press freedom escalate, more journalists are forced to flee their home countries, making independent journalism one of the most dangerous professions today. The recently published study by Körber Stiftung sheds light on the growing scale and challenges of exiled journalism in Germany.
What has happened to the Belarusian media and journalists since the day of the presidential elections — from 9 August 2020 until today — is an unprecedented case of the eradication of independent journalism in a single country, in the centre of Europe, in the 21st century.
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.
Reporters Without Borders has ranked Belarus as the worst country for press freedom in Europe. Maria Savushkina, a Belarusian journalist currently living in Berlin, reaches tens of thousands of people back home with her political satire.