"In recent years, IMS has seen a steady increase in the number of its media partners forced to flee their home countries to avoid persecution and closure as the democratic space globally has shrunk. IMS expects this trend to continue, with “exiled media” becoming the main – and, in some cases,
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only –source of public interest journalism for audiences in more and more countries. This situation, along with the likely drop in development assistance by some of these exiled media’s main funders, calls for a more strategically coherent and creative response from IMS and our colleagues in the media development sector. The briefing paper Navigating instability provides an initial framework for this response, based on learning from the support IMS’ programmes have provided to exiled media over 20-plus years. With additional input from exiled media leaders, IMS’ Exiled Media Working Group has identified five phases of transition and evolution that media appear to go through between deciding to leave their home country and either returning home again or permanently settling in their host country; a long and often stormy journey, fraught with risks and uncertainty and involving many twists and turns. Crucially, Navigating instability shows there is light at the end of the turnnel – there are media that survive exile and eventually return home, often stronger and wiser having spent years – sometimes decades – away and ready to play a leading role in transforming their country’s media, once opportunities allow. This calls for a long-term approach that enables exiled media to chart their journey with less jeopardy and more certainty. Navigating instability illustrates each phase of exile through the eyes of media leaders experieincing the situation first-hand, and outlines the support that IMS can provide media partners during each phase. The briefing paper also presents a set of recommendatons to the media development sector, our donors and other policy makers on how we can collectively address the gaps in our support to exiled media." (https://www.mediasupport.org)
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"Organisations that take extreme risks to document atrocities, corruption and war crimes fear for their future after USAid cuts." (Introduction)
"Journalists are allegedly suffering exploitation and abuse at exiled news outlets, but there’s debate over whether the responsibility to respond falls on donors or a media industry that is taking gradual steps to self-regulate." (Introduction)
"Findings indicate that Afghan exiled journalists worldwide struggle to continue practicing their profession. Even among the few who still work in media, the vast majority depend on additional sources of income. This demonstrates a clear need for support, especially since many respondents aspire to
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establish their own medium in exile in the future and would like to continue working in the field. Most Afghan journalists in exile would like to continue to report on Afghanistan related issues and thus reach Afghans both inside and outside the country with their independent stories. Most of the participants rated solidarity within the Afghan media community as either low or very low. This trend is even more pronounced in Germany. At the same time, an absolute majority of the respondents indicated a very high interest in connecting with the Afghan media community in the countries where they are currently based or in other countries." (https://jx-fund.org)
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"The Syrian independent exile media as a sector is at the core of this study. To understand the unique nature of this sector, the study contextualises the issues pertaining to the Syrian independent exile media in the wider framework of exile media globally, and donors’ approaches to media develop
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ment in the context of conflict, postconflict and fragile states (including approaches to exile media); it also discusses lessons learned more generally and draws on examples through case studies. The study is divided into two parts: 1. Independent exile media globally — practices, policies and lessons learned; and 2. Syrian exile organisations and institutions." (Executive summary)
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"This report has presented a range of findings and insights generated from a consultation with 14 independent exile media organisations in Iran, Myanmar, Sudan, Ethiopia, Belarus, Zimbabwe, Tibet, Uzbekistan, Syria and Zambia. They can be summarised in three key points:
(1) First, this report highli
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ghts the need for the funders and training providers focusing on strengthening organisational journalistic capacity to address both the explicitly expressed individual technical and other training needs, as well as organisational challenges of these exile media. These organisational challenges have significant implications for the ability of these organisations to fulfil their mission, but may not always be linked by these exile media to the training needs and may thus remain unaddressed.
(2) Second, the report highlights that there may be an opportunity for funders and training providers to play a greater role in helping exile media organisations understand the composition and information needs of their audiences. The consultation revealed that the majority of participating independent exile media organisations have a limited understanding of their audiences as well as a limited ability to tailor content for different audience segments.
(3) Third, the reports suggests that funders and training providers may need to do more to understand and help bridge a perceived “disconnect” between donors and those reliant on donor funding. The consultation revealed mixed feelings among participating organisations about the level of perceived donor knowledge of their challenges and training needs. Further exploring and bridging this perceived “disconnect” will help maximise the impact and effectiveness of the training activities across the sector." (Final reflections, page 27)
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"This report offers four recommendations for addressing some of the complex challenges of independent media in exile: donor groups should expand and formalize coordination of their exile-media support [...]; organizations providing international media training should actively seek to train exile-med
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ia journalists [...]; a formal international association of exile media should be established; the exile-media organizations themselves should take some of the initiative." (Executive summary, page 5)
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"This Report is an initial attempt to discover what support is currently available for exiled journalists in Europe. It examines the help and opportunities on offer in eleven countries: Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Spain and the UK.9 Much of the re
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search has been carried out by exiled journalists based in these countries. We apologise in advance for any gaps in our knowledge, and this Report should be seen for what it is – a journalistic investigation designed to provide a snapshot of the current situation. Each country report provides statistics and information about support work being done by journalists’ unions and other NGOs. Some contain outlines of specific projects working with exiled journalists and case studies of personal experience. In describing some of the ground-breaking work that is being done to help exiles recover from the trauma of their experiences, and resume their careers in the media, this Report seeks both to identify success stories that might bear replication in other countries, and to examine gaps in provision. As with our earlier RAM Report,10 the aim of this Report is to encourage others to join in efforts to assist refugee and asylum-seeking journalists to find a new life." (Introduction, page 8)
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