JX Fund – European Fund for Journalism in Exile

In an increasingly hostile global environment for independent journalism, journalists under severe political pressure (JUSPP) represent the most vulnerable segment of the media landscape in the OSCE region. In the context of this report, JUSPP are defined as journalists and other media professionals who face systematic threats and persecution from state or non-state actors due to their reporting and dissemination of information.

This Monitoring Report takes stock of the press freedom situation in 36 EU Member States and candidate countries during the first six months of 2025. Between January and June, the Mapping Media Freedom database documented 709 press freedom violations, affecting 1249 media workers or entities.

The report examines how China is exporting its model of internet control via Geedge Networks, a company tied to the Mesalab lab. Geedge supplies surveillance and censorship tools to countries like Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Ethiopia, and Myanmar, enabling real-time monitoring and traffic control. Leaked documents reveal how these systems mirror China’s Great Firewall and are used both domestically (e.g., Xinjiang) and abroad.

The course focuses on discussions and presentations by industry experts specialising in organisational transformation, audience development, and business models. It’s an opportunity for participants to step back from day-to-day operations, share experiences off-the-record with colleagues from other news organisations, expand their professional networks, and develop strategies for their own organisations.

The Human Rights Watch’ report, “Disrupted, Throttled, and Blocked: State Censorship, Control, and Increasing Isolation of Internet Users in Russia,” documents the impact of the government’s increasing technological capacities and control over the country’s internet infrastructure.

Authoritarianism is on the rise globally – with far-reaching consequences. More and more journalists are forced to leave their countries in order to continue their work. At the same time, states undergoing autocratisation – where once-democratic systems become increasingly authoritarian, or authoritarian regimes descend fully into autocracy – are extending their repressive tactics beyond their own borders.

The Global Forum for Media Development’s (GFMD) Mapping of media assistance and journalism support programmes in Asia, Pacific and Oceania region is a timely data-based analysis of media assistance in the Asia region between 2020-2024. It will be an important resource for stakeholders — donors, international NGOs, local civil society organisations, media, and journalists — to assess donor-based funding in the region.

The Pulitzer Center is now accepting applications for its initiative focused on climate change and its effects on workers and work. As the world heats up, what jobs and employment sectors, what factory practices, what sorts of manufacturing–from computer chips to batteries to food production to fast-fashion–are threatened or must change

With the closure of USAID resulting in a 25 percent cut to the world’s media development budget, independent media outlets across the world have become more vulnerable to existential threats ranging from bombings to disinformation. It is vital that the rest of the world steps up to support journalists in these trying times.

Born from the University of Oregon’s international symposium on journalism-in-exile, this book gathers the reflections and accounts of journalists who have faced danger, persecution, and threats to their safety due to their commitment to journalistic integrity, while also highlighting the work of advocacy groups supporting press freedom in repressive environment.

MDIF has launched and is now receiving proposals for Amplify Kenya, an innovation and capacity building program for independent media in Kenya. The program is aimed at assisting Kenya based independent media through capacity building, leadership-focused development, and network building within the broader East Africa media landscape.

To support fact-checking initiatives worldwide and reduce the harm of misinformation, the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) at the nonprofit Poynter Institute, a global leader in journalistic excellence, administers the Global Fact Check Fund. This three-year program started in 2023 with three rounds of funding for the year, and those rounds will be repeated in 2024 and 2025.

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 Pulitzer Center welcomes proposals using advanced data mining—like machine learning or NLP—to tackle journalistic challenges. This grant encourages radical transparency, including sharing methods, code, ethical considerations, and data limits, so each story can guide other newsrooms on similar projects.

The Pulitzer Center is seeking proposals to advance wide-reaching and relevant journalism on issues impacting communities in Africa, including but not limited to water and sanitation, land degradation and coastal erosion, education, maternal health, and climate resilience. They encourage local journalists to apply.

The Pulitzer Center is seeking applications for their reporting initiative focused on the systems, organizations, and people that destabilize countries, erode democracies, and enable corruption. They value cross-border and collaborative reporting, data-driven projects, and innovative, interdisciplinary approaches. This grant is open to freelance and staff journalists worldwide.

The Pulitzer Center is seeking applications for their reporting initiative focused on AI and surveillance technologies and their impact on communities around the world. They value accountability and data reporting, collaborations, and cross-discipline approaches. Staff and freelance journalists are eligible.

The Pulitzer Center is eager to fund as much in-depth reporting as possible that is as safe as possible for the journalists and touches on a broad range of topics, including possible pathways to peace. Since its earliest days, the Pulitzer Center has supported hundreds of reports on underreported angles of conflicts around the world, from Afghanistan to Yemen, Iraq, Darfur, Ethiopia, Myanmar, and more.