JX Fund – European Fund for Journalism in Exile

Exiled media has been studied less than its importance warrants. But it is a fast-changing field, and an increasingly relevant one. The reasons for this lie in the political conditions that have been reshaping journalism worldwide.

For years the number of authoritarian regimes in the world has kept rising while the tools of digital censorship and public manipulation have become ever more sophisticated. The question in such contexts is no longer whether reporting from inside remains possible, but how long the few remaining outlets can hold out before relocation becomes the only option. Where organized crime or armed conflict are added, that point comes sooner.

This pattern is now visible with more than half the world’s countries now classified by Reporters Without Borders as “difficult” or “very serious” for press freedom – 94 out of 180 in the 2026 index. In a growing share of these, journalism cannot be done from inside. It is being produced from exile – on infrastructure that is not its own, in legal jurisdictions that do not always protect it, on platforms it does not control.

The result, beyond the sector itself, is that the parts of the world from which independent information once flowed have shrunk. Audiences inside repressive countries lose access to reliable reporting; international audiences lose access to ground-level understanding of what is happening there. Both losses have become more acute in the tense and unstable geopolitical landscape of 2026.

This is the landscape JX Fund has been working in since 2022. During this time, we have carried out extensive research on the conditions under which exiled independent media operate, how they report and reach their audiences, the impact of their work and their capacity to serve as a catalyst for creating new, independent media ecosystems when regimes fall.

We have published extensive research reports, country profiles and other data-driven studies, and are constantly monitoring publications on exiled media from all parts of the world. So far, our publications about exiled media have mainly focused on individual countries. This report looks across exiled media internationally to identify the common causes, challenges and possible future for exiled media communities.

Download the full report here.

Publication: May 2026
Projects partners: The Fix Research and Advisory