There are more than 100 armed conflicts and wars taking place around the world today. The wanton killing of human beings during times of war and conflict demand accountability. This webinar will share methodologies for investigating war and conflict, and provide a briefing on the laws that govern so-called “war crimes.”
The issue “Reporting from precarious shelter” seeks to fundamentally shift the boundaries of the study of exile journalism and to establish new ways of engaging with this complex field, not least because focusing on exile journalism can serve as a source of inspiration for journalism and its studies more broadly.
The International Press Institute (IPI) is offering travel grants to Ukrainian journalists. The funding facilitates short-term exchange visits to European media, participation in professional conferences, summits, summer schools, workshops, research trips and creative retreats as well as emergency relocation.
The Knight-Wallace Fellowship by University Michigan offers accomplished journalists the opportunity to work on individual journalism projects, sharpen professional skills, research, or address a challenge in an eight-month program from late August 2024 through April 2025. The fellowship includes access to faculty at the University of Michigan, workshops, private seminars, and a $85,000 stipend distributed monthly as well as $5,000 for relocation expenses.
2023 marks the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 25th anniversary of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders. On this occasion, the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (FNF) and Reporters Without Borders Germany (RSF) are jointly organizing an international conference on journalism and its defense of human rights worldwide.
At the Annual Journalism Funders Gathering 2023 in New York City, several panels discussed how to most effectively fund independent journalism. On one of these panels, the JX Fund was invited to report on its efforts to support media in exile, which play an important role in closing the information gaps that arise in authoritarian countries.
An estimated 1,000 Russian journalists have gone into exile to escape the threat of prosecution in their home country. In Europe, many believe they are safe. But in April, the suspected poison attacks on two journalists and an opposition activist became known. One of them is Elena Kostyuchenko, a well-known Russian journalist with great resonance.
British journalist and filmmaker Patrick Forbes documents the work of Nobel Peace Prize winner Dmitri Muratov and the Novaya Gazeta team. After the initial broadcast on September 26, the documentary will be available in the Arte media library.
At this year’s Exile Media Forum in Hamburg, exiled journalists from around the world shared their experiences and strategies for continuing their work in exile. Although the reasons they have had to go into exile are as different as the conditions in their respective countries of residence, the challenges they face are often very similar.
The pressure on media critical of the Kremlin in Russia has increased again since the beginning of the war. Hundreds of journalists have since been forced into exile. Deutschlandfunk (DLF) talks to Russian journalists in exile and representatives of media organizations about current developments in the Russian media landscape. Penelope Winterhager, managing director of the JX Fund, comments on the needs of media in exile.
Two years ago, the Taliban took power in Afghanistan. This has led to a systematic dismantling of civil rights and a stricter censorship of the media. More than half of the 547 media outlets that were registered in 2021 have since ceased to exist. But exiled media from Afghanistan bring a glimmer of hope. From October on, the JX Fund will start supporting Afghan media and media professionals in exile.
From 2015 on, Russia has declared more than 90 international and foreign institutions “undesirable organizations”. Since 2022, exiled media – who already have the status of “foreign agents” – have been increasingly affected as well. After iStories, The Insider, Meduza and the Novaya Gazeta Europe, now the independent broadcaster TV Rain has been hit.
Free Media Hub EAST will provide financial and non-financial support to existing and established Belarusian and Russian media working in exile in the EU and that maintain significant audiences back home. In addition to financial support for exiled media it will provide some 1,000 slots to help with visas and registration, provide psychological support or further capacity building. The project will also invest in technological solutions such as censorship circumvention.
Berlin is becoming an important place for independent media in exile. These media and journalists need places where they can continue their work efficiently and in exchange with colleagues. With the support of the JX Fund, three co-working and co-production spaces are now being created in Berlin.
Journalists all over the world are threatened or endangered in connection with their work and forced to flee. Reporters Without Borders has now published a map showing the migratory flows of journalists, and the countries that host exiled media.
The International Press Institute has published a review on this year’s IPI World Congress, where panelists representing publishers and media development organizations from Afghanistan, Belarus, Myanmar, Poland, Russia, and South Africa to speak about their experiences operating in exile and shared insights on how they continue to make a difference in spite of the challenges they face.
The Free Media Awards aim to strengthen independent reporting in Eastern Europe. This year, the jury has highlighted the role of the media in the Caucasus region, along with the crucial importance of investigative journalism in ensuring insight into Russia’s full-scale war of aggression against Ukraine, as well as into the ongoing crises in Belarus.
Journalists all over the world are threatened or endangered in connection with their work and forced to flee. Reporters Without Borders has published a map showing the migratory flows of journalists, and the countries that host exiled media.
How does research work when you can no longer enter the country you are investigating due to the threat of politically motivated persecution? The panel “Staying close without being on site – research methods of Russian journalists in exile” discussed this question from three very different perspectives.
The study “The State of Local News in Ukraine” by the Media Development Foundation describes the development of the Ukrainian media landscape during the war and documents the crisis-related adaptation strategies of Ukrainian editorial offices.
Russian journalists and Reporters Without Borders issued a joint appeal calling on major tech companies to oppose the blocking of almost all independent information in Russia. The next presidential election is scheduled for 2024.
The European Center for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF) is committed to solidarity with persecuted, threatened, and exiled journalists and supports them according to their individual needs. With “Opportunities in Exile” they want to support journalists in exile with the primary goal of enabling long-term professional future opportunities and social participation.
Journalismfund Europe awards quarterly fellowships to research teams working transnationally. The fellowship is aimed at journalists based in continental Europe. However, if relevant to the topic, team members from countries outside Europe may also be admitted.
ECPMF and Hostwriter are implementing a platform for media professionals in German exile, where relevant information can be provided and exchanged. Hostwriter provides its members with contacts to local media to promote media pluralism.
In April 2023, the Council of Europe invited exiled journalists from Belarus and Russia, media lawyers, researchers and members of professional media associations to discuss the needs in two closed workshops. The JX Fund also took part in the discussions. The results are to serve the further development of European funding structures.
The Journalism Trust Initiative (JTI), initiated by Reporters Without Borders, has joined forces with NewsGuard to launch an emergency protocol for countries with media landscapes at risk. The measure is intended to support the swift evaluation of quality media as defined by the JTI.
At the International Journalism Festival in Perugia, the JX Fund discussed with journalists from Russian media in exile their current challenges. On another panel JX Fund was invited to debate the future of the Ukrainian media system. A comprehensible article by Reuters Institute summarizes the learning from the Festival.
How can journalists in distress be optimally supported? And what happens when media can no longer continue their work due to repression? At the “Radioday Fluchtpunkte,” Radio eins spoke with Katja Heinemann, who heads the emergency department of Reporters Without Borders.
As press freedom around the globe erodes, journalists are building networks outside their home countries to hold the powerful accountable. Nieman Reports portrays 9 exiled media from 5 different regions.
Hundreds of Russian journalists have gone into exile to report independently on the war and the Putin regime. The media magazine ZAPP spoke with them about how to investigate from exile and how they deal with death threats.
After the outbreak of the war, the German government promised independent journalists from Russia quick, unbureaucratic admission. In the program “Medien – Cross und Quer,” Penelope Winterhager, managing director of the JX Fund, talked about how the situation has developed since then.
On the BR podcast “BR24 Medien,” Polina Stretter, program director of the JX Fund, spoke about the challenges faced by Russian media in exile and the successes they are nevertheless achieving.
Together with The Fix and the Centre for Media Studies of the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga, the JX Fund has published the study “Rebuilding Russian Media in Exile – Successes, Challenges and the Road Ahead,” which investigates the current state of Russian media in exile, and how the cities of Amsterdam, Berlin, Tbilisi, and Riga have become real magnets for exiled Russian journalists.
Read the full study
The JX Fund was founded in April 2022. Since then, we have been able to support 44 media outlets in exile in eight countries with over 900 journalists profiting from our work.
The German government wants to support journalists who have fled Belarus and Russia and is investing large sums of money in the reconstruction of media in exile. At the same time, there are no regulated admission procedures.
With kind permission of SZ Archiv.
Over the past six months, Russia has adopted a series of draconian anti-press laws. In order to help threatened media professionals in Russia to choose a country of exile suitable for them and their needs, the JX Fund – European Fund for Journalism in Exile together with the Mass Media Defence Center from Voronezh has now launched the information platform Shpargalka | Exile.
Since its founding, the JX Fund has supported over 15 media outlets in exile in over 7 different countries, as well as facilitating the expansion of a media hub in Georgia. In the most recent of the three rounds of funding to date, which took place in mid-June, a total of 7 Russian and Belarusian media outlets were selected for funding, including two prominent investigative journalism projects.
Many journalists who have fled Belarus and Russia would like to continue their work in Berlin. But the German bureaucracy puts obstacles in their way: Despite promises to the contrary, the admission procedures remain tough and humanitarian visas are only granted in individual cases.
The Russian war of aggression on Ukraine has made independent reporting in both countries difficult or even impossible. Now, the JX Fund aims to help independent media continue their reporting from exile.
In many places, the free press is threatened by illiberal tendencies, crises and wars. Yet it is needed precisely where it is to be silenced by repression or political persecution. If necessary, media must continue working from exile.
The German government pledges financial aid to support journalists who have fled their home countries. The aim is to ensure that people in Belarus and Russia continue to have access to independent information. Among other things, the foundation of the JX Fund – European Fund for Journalism in Exile was financed.
Reporters without Borders (RSF) together with the Rudolf Augstein Foundation and the Schöpflin Foundation launch the JX Fund for journalism in exile, which is intended to help media workers quickly and flexibly, to enable them to continue their work immediately after they have fled war and crisis zones.