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I’m Still Working as an Independent Journalist in Russia

  • The Moscow Times

A Russian journalist recounts returning from exile to report undercover inside Russia, navigating fear, surveillance, and censorship while challenging the overly bleak narratives often portrayed by exile media. They argue that repression is real but selective, and that the country remains socially complex and more nuanced than many abroad believe.

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Damascus: Returning Home after Fourteen Years in Exile

    For fourteen years, the organization operated in secrecy and exile. Team members risked their lives daily, working under bombardment and surveillance, and facing the constant threat of arrest. Three colleagues remain forcibly disappeared to this day — their absence a painful reminder of the price paid for pursuing truth under the former regime.

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    Strategic Vision Paper: Exiled. Effective. Efficient.

    • Press Club Belarus

    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.

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    Exiled Voices: Defending Press Freedom in Myanmar

    • Global Voices
    • Exile Hub

    Exile Hub is one of Global Voices’ partners in Southeast Asia, emerging in response to the 2021 coup in Myanmar. In this press statement by Exile Hub, the organization underscores the growing importance of press freedom in Myanmar, highlighting the ongoing persecution of journalists who continue to fight for truth and justice despite the oppressive conditions and their forced exile.

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    Exiled Belarusian Journalist: Where’s the Nearest Shelter?

    • Tagesspiegel
    • Maria Savushkina

    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.

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    Crisis Spurs Latin American Journalists to Form Alliances

    • Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas
    • César López Linares

    Amid funding shortages, AI disruption, and rising threats to press freedom, Latin American journalists are launching innovative projects to rebuild trust and connect with audiences. At the ISOJ 2025 Colloquium, seven media outlets shared how they’re using collaboration and creative storytelling.

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    IJF 2025: What We Learnt About the Future of News

    • Reuters Institute
    • Gretel Kahn, Marina Adami, Matthew Leake, Priscille Biehlmann & Eduardo Suárez

    At this year’s International Journalism Festival, journalists from around the world gathered to discuss the future of journalism. The Reuters Institute has published key takeaways, offering insights into a range of pressing topics, including journalism in exile, local news, reader revenue, news avoidance, and the impact of AI.

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    Why Independent Journalism Loses Russian Readers

    • The Moscow Times
    • Maxim Alyukov

    In this article, Maxim Alyukov explores the persistent gap between what journalists deem newsworthy and what audiences actually care about. Drawing on global research and the challenges facing Russian independent media in exile, he argues that understanding public perceptions of relevance is essential to staying connected, credible, and impactful under repression.

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    Nicaraguan Journalism Seeks Allies to Challenge Dictatorship

    • EL PAÍS
    • Néstor Arce, Carlos Herrera & Wilfredo Miranda Aburto

    The founders of the media outlet Divergentes share their struggles in continuing independent journalism from exile. Despite facing immense financial and emotional challenges, they remain committed to exposing the authoritarian regime in Nicaragua.

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    I Recognize The Strangulation of American Media Today

    • The Moscow Times
    • Ksenia Turkova

    In this piece, Ksenia Turkuva, an exiled journalist, writes about her journey through Russia’s shrinking media landscape, reflecting on her early career and the harsh realities of censorship. She contrasts her experiences with the eerie parallels she now sees in America, warning of the creeping fear and rhetoric that echoes the tactics of repression she once knew in Russia.

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    Syrian Journalists on the Uncertain Future of Their Homeland

    • iMEdD
    • Katerina Voutsina

    After the fall of the Assad regime, three Syrian journalists in exile speak with iMEdD about the challenges and opportunities of independent journalism in Syria, navigating an unstable and uncharted media landscape. They interview Lina Chawaf, CEO of Radio Rozana; Mohammed Bassiki, exiled journalist and SIRAJ co-founder; and Zaina Erhaim, who trains women journalists in the Middle East.

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    ‚Nicaragua Has Become a Terrorist State‘

    • IPS
    • Wendy Quintero Chávez & Lucía Pineda Ubau

    Journalists Wendy Quintero Chávez and Lucía Pineda Ubau shed light on the harsh realities of systemic torture, rigged elections, and the fight for press freedom in Nicaragua. Since 2018, over 350 lives have been lost, 56 media outlets banned, and 900+ exiled. Despite facing threats and violence, they continue to fight for truth and the right to report freely, even from exile.

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    Syria: “I Haven’t Cried So Much in so Long”

    • CNN

    At the start of the Syrian civil war, citizen journalist Rami Jarrah picked up a camera to document Assad government atrocities. He says, “We’ve been given our country back, and we have the opportunity now to build it.”

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    Adapting to Survive: How Exiled Media Lead Innovation

    • JX Fund

    With the increasing monopolization of information infrastructures on one side and targeted disinformation campaigns and propaganda by authoritarian regimes on the other, facts have become lonely things. However, for many exiled media outlets, this isn’t breaking news but rather a reality they have already adapted to. The constant need to innovate in response to new circumstances has given rise to unconventional business models.

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    Study: A New Phase in the Fight for Press Freedom in Russia

    • JX Fund

    Over the past year, Russia has done more than simply refine its already deeply repressive system – it is currently in the middle of building a new model of digital censorship, spending hundreds of millions of dollars on top of its already bloated propaganda budgets to ensure its people are fully isolated from independent and objective voices. One of the Kremlin’s most important targets: Russian independent media in exile.

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    Yavuz Baydar Reflects on Life as a Turkish Exiled Journalist

    • Körber Stiftung

    Yavuz Baydar is an award-winning journalist, editor and analyst in Turkish and international media. Since the failed Turkish coup d’etat in 2016 Yavuz Baydar has had to live and work in exile. In conversation with Diana Huth, Yavuz Baydar analyzes the geopolitical implications of the 2024 elections and calls for greater support for exile journalism.

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    Georgia: A Crisis Point For Press Freedom

    • European Centre for Press and Media Freedom

    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.

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    Digital Surveillance of Russian Civil Society

    • Reporter ohne Grenzen

    After the start of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine in 2022 and since the annexation of Crimea in 2014, the legal basis for the Russian state’s digital surveillance of opposition and anti-Kremlin citizens has been expanded. This report presents a chronological list of legal restrictions on internet freedom due to expanded surveillance measures and describes the technical implementation of surveillance.

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