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Crossing a border doesn’t end the threats. Exiled journalists from Afghanistan, Russia, and the Uyghur community describe cyberattacks, disinformation, poisoning attempts, and pressure on family members back home—transnational repression that’s rising fast as exile itself has nearly doubled worldwide in five years.
Good journalism alone doesn’t pay the bills, says Marius Dragomir of the Media and Journalism Research Center. In this interview, he explains why quality and revenue require different skills, how donor dependence quietly shapes editorial choices, and why small outlets are “captured through starvation” rather than acquisition—plus what funders consistently get wrong.
Serbia is now the only EU-Balkans country where journalists flee for safety. Columnist Marko Vidojković and military reporter Aleksandar Radić are among six exiled amid death threats, smear campaigns, and state harassment. As Belgrade edges toward EU accession, RSF says Brussels can no longer ignore Serbia’s press freedom crisis.
The internet is a haven for journalism in countries where press freedom is endangered. Exiled outlets report from abroad, beyond the reach of domestic regulators and press laws. But no space is truly safe: in recent years autocracies have innovated to promote their agendas online, exploit social media algorithms, and block critical media.
Russia’s parliament unanimously passed a law targeting exiled critics, including “foreign agents,” with frozen bank accounts, revoked driving licenses, and denied consular services like passport renewal. RSF warns the Kremlin is extending repression beyond its borders to silence independent journalism abroad.
Ten years after a coup attempt on July 15, 2016, Turkey’s independent media has been largely dismantled through a combination of mass imprisonment, outlet closures, regulatory punishment, internet censorship and the consolidation of media ownership in pro-government hands. This and more has continued putting pressure on journalists in exile.
Nicaraguan journalists who sought refuge in Costa Rica say they are facing surveillance and intimidation linked to the Ortega regime. The reports suggest that repression extends beyond Nicaragua’s borders, undermining Costa Rica’s role as a safe haven and exposing the growing risks of transnational repression for journalists who continue reporting from exile.
Across much of Asia, a quiet transformation is taking place in journalism. While many established news organizations continue to grapple with declining advertising revenue, shifting audience behavior, platform dependence, and growing competition for attention, a diverse group of independent digital publishers is attempting to chart a different course.
A coalition of human rights organizations warns that Vietnamese authorities are expanding repression beyond national borders, targeting journalists and critics living in Thailand. The cases of exiled journalists Truong Duy Nhat and Duong Van Thai highlight the risks faced by independent reporters abroad, including surveillance, intimidation, detention and threats of forced return.
Poisonings, cyberattacks, raids on the homes of family member, russian journalists are persecuted by their authoritarian home country even when in exile. Yet, media professionals in exile in Germany, their host country, are a vital part of an informed society and defend all of our rights to reliable information. Read the RSF report on it here.
RSF finds Russian journalists in Germany face transnational repression including surveillance, digital attacks, intimidation, pressure on relatives and even suspected poisonings. The report urges Germany and the EU to better protect exiled media through dedicated support, reporting mechanisms, sanctions and coordinated action to safeguard press freedom.
For weeks in the spring of 2026, residents of Moscow experienced major disruption as mobile internet shutdowns which had earlier affected several Russian regions finally reached the capital. While the partial shutdowns were softened in the following weeks, internet users across Russia continued to experience serious difficulties accessing most websites…
Following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, many independent Russian journalists and opposition politicians fled abroad, rebuilding their channels. This article argues that, operating from exile, they have fallen into a trap: creating great content, but the Kremlin controls it. They must shift to a radical new approach, teaching citizens inside Russia how to safely test reality.
To mark World Refugee Day on 20 June, RSF released a map showing the exile of journalists supported by RSF since 2021. Against an international backdrop the number of countries from which media professionals fled has doubled in five years. For these journalists continuing their work is hampered by the dangers that come with it and the limitations of reception policies.
A new Human Rights Myanmar report, released in May in partnership with the IPCM, warns that major digital platforms failed to protect Myanmar’s independent media during the junta’s 2025-26 elections, enabling censorship, threats, and financial exclusion against exile-based journalism. It describes the polls as a “sham election”.
Exile is no guarantee of safety for journalists fleeing authoritarian regimes. Experts and a UN Special Rapporteur warn that states increasingly misuse Interpol mechanisms — including Red Notices and Travel Document Alerts — to harass, restrict, and pressure regime critics abroad, even those granted asylum. Social media platforms, they add, offer far too little protection.
JX Fund, with support of The Fix Research and Advisory, has just published the first major cross-country overview of what they call Exiled Independent Media, or EXIM. Across eight countries studied in depth, researchers identified at least 280 verified outlets, although the real number is almost certainly much higher.
Exiled independent media face growing pressure to survive financially and structurally in an increasingly unstable global news ecosystem. This essay revisits lessons from the 1970s media landscape to explore how journalism can adapt to fragmentation, platform dependency and shrinking resources, offering reflections on sustainability models for exile outlets today.