JX Fund – European Fund for Journalism in Exile

On the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) is releasing a new report “Ending the Silence on Online Harassment of Journalists”. Authored by journalist and tech policy advisor Elodie Vialle, the report provides an overview of the widespread phenomenon that is online harassment targeting journalists, whose normalisation makes it harder to address.

Defending trustworthy news means knowing how to counter the propaganda tactics that oppose reliable reporting to further ideological goals. To this end, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has published a new report compiling all the content from The Propaganda Monitor, a website dedicated to exposing the way propaganda and disinformation operate so they can be tackled.

The removal from the air of a second American comedian since President Donald Trump was elected in the United States should send chills down the spine of every journalist who worked in Moscow in the early 2000s. That was how President Vladimir Putin began consolidating his power — by attacking mainstream media, starting with television and, notably, TV comedians.

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.

Conversation with Galina Timchenko and Ivan Kolpakov, co-founders of Meduza, CEO and editor-in-chief respectively. Meduza is one of the most important independent media outlets outside of Russia, about Russia, and for Russia, published in Russian and in English.

Having previously exposed abuses such as illegal mining and drug trafficking as a reporter for El Universal, Joseph Poliszuk has since led a trailblazing and courageous team as co-founder of Venezuela’s pioneering investigative journalism outlet Armando.info.

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 latest episode of “Our Window to Russia” focuses on the lives of young people in Russia. What’s happening in schools and universities? How present is state propaganda in daily life? And what role do church and state play in shaping the next generation? We speak with journalist Ekaterina Martynova from DOXA.

In 2018, the administration of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) ushered in an era of reform, freeing exiled media and releasing imprisoned journalists. Yet the hope that these measures promised a renaissance for journalism was short-lived. Since the outbreak of conflict in Tigray in 2020, the environment has sharply deteriorated.

How the “Journalists in Exile” program strengthens press freedom: Nazeeha Saeed explains why independent journalism should not be taken for granted. Nazeeha Saeed has lived in exile since 2016—first in Paris, now in Berlin. In her home country of Bahrain, she could no longer work as a journalist.

In this podcast episode, we talk to Sergey Lukashevskiy about his work as a Russian exile journalist in Germany. Since 2022, he has been building “Radio Sakharov” as an exile media outlet. He discusses the challenges of exile journalism, human rights in Russia, and reporting on a country he can no longer return to.

The Spanish-language report ‘Displaced Voices: An X-ray of Latin American Journalistic Exile 2018–2024’ shows that a total of 913 journalists were forced to leave their countries in Latin America between 2028 and 2024. Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba together account for more than 90% of all journalistic exile in the region.

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.

From empowering exiled journalists, to sustaining watchdog journalism in fragile democracies and conflict zones, donor aid often serves as the lifeline for public interest media across the Asia-Pacific region. However, recent research led by DW Akademie reveals that donor aid is sometimes fragmented, poorly coordinated, and even unintentionally harmful.

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.

“Before I was just seen as a journalist in exile. Now, no one in Russia wants to be linked to someone labeled a terrorist.” Armen Aramyan, DOXA Journal’s Founding Editor, speaks about his recent arrest in absentia, the spread of global authoritarianism, and the state of independent Russian media in exile.