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A UK court’s conviction of two Chinese spies who tracked Hong Kong exiles shows how far China is prepared to go to suppress criticism beyond its borders. Transnational repression against the Hong Kong diaspora encompasses bounties on exiled activists, surveillance, financial harassment and criminalisation of families in Hong Kong.
RSF condemns the jamming of the radio frequency 15.5 MHz, which is used to broadcast independent news content in Persian to Iran. Launched with RFPI, this shortwave service allows the Iranian population to access reliable information — its broadcasting content is produced by the news platform IranWire — despite severe restrictions on the media and communications.
A Tunisian court has sentenced the prominent, exiled journalist Khaoula Boukrim in absentia to four years in prison under the 2022 cybercrime Decree‑Law 54, part of a broader crackdown on dissent and independent media under President Kais Saied. This shows a clear crackdown on journalists and free speech in Tunisia. You can find more about the case here.
Research has long told us that journalists covering conflict experience rates of PTSD comparable to frontline soldiers. What it hasn’t been addressed as much is what happens to the people who manage them – making the calls, absorbing the consequences – the editors. That conversation finally took centre stage at the World News Media Congress last week.
Iran has introduced new restrictions on international news organizations operating inside the country, requiring local content providers and media partners to limit redistribution of material to foreign Persian-language broadcasters. The directive reportedly targets the flow of news content between domestic sources and Persian-language media outlets operating from abroad.
Journalists working in exile have to cope with a complex and unique mix of trauma and stress that needs resilience and support in order to manage and overcome.
Every category of trauma identified in journalism practice—primary, secondary, operational, and cultural—can also appear in exile journalism. However, that is not everything…
Documenting conflict has become increasingly difficult. Journalists face harassment, surveillance, misinformation campaigns and constant threats to their safety. “Being in exile is not synonymous with safety,” Zakaria says. “Intimidation takes place online in the form of harassment campaigns, digital threats, attempts at surveillance, disinformation and attacks on credibility and personal safety.”
Rezaian is providing training and support to exiled media as part of a Washington Post program. He argued that exiled media, including creator journalists, should be an integral part of the mainstream media ecosystem. “We have to stop looking at these people as a charity case. This is an asset, this is a resource,” he said.
Since the Iran war started late February, the CPJ has documented a press crackdown across the Gulf, and tracked unpublicized cases of arrest, legal and financial actions against journalists and their media outlets. The escalation represents a significant and underreported threat to press freedom in the Gulf countries where media freedoms were already severely curtailed.
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.
Hong Kong’s government on Friday slammed foreign media and press freedom groups, rejecting claims of a crackdown on press freedom as “slander” after jailed media tycoon Jimmy Lai was awarded a free speech prize in Germany. Press freedom in the city has sharply declined since a 2020 National Security Law clamped down on dissent.
Exiled Rohingya journalist Mohamed Husein reports on genocide, displacement and repression in Myanmar. In this Tagesspiegel essay, he describes the risks of telling the truth—from documenting atrocities in Rakhine State to continuing his work from exile in Germany.
Foreign intelligence agencies are using spyware in Germany to target primarily activists and journalists critical of authoritarian governments, but increasingly also members of parliament like Daniel Freund. Beyond infringing on the individual fundamental rights of affected individuals, they thereby also threaten civil society, freedom of the press, and democracy.
This paper draws on 68 interviews and a global survey of 177 media outlets and media support organizations to chart the financial, sectoral, and political impacts of terminating most U.S. support for independent media. We find the following: The sudden, ill-planned termination of U.S. governmental support caused harm and waste.
Cyber censorship is quickly becoming a weapon of choice for Turkish authorities looking to silence journalists in exile. At least five reporters have been targeted online, notably by having their social media accounts censored in Türkiye. Four of them are facing potential prison sentences as they are unjustly prosecuted — some of these lawsuits stretching over a decade.
The Fix analysed eight autocracies with limited internet freedoms and extensive internet shutdowns across the world, which are also among the largest producers of exiled media we regularly monitor with JXF, to understand the varieties of digital censorship through the Internet shutdowns.
This research examines the impact of Trumps reelection and the later U.S. aid cuts on Independent Media. The authors also look at how it devastated exiled media from Belarus, Myanmar, Nicaragua & El Salvador – among the hardest hit. Lost relocation support, diplomatic protection & up to 40% of revenue. Other donors haven’t filled the gap.