Exilmedien: Offener Brief an die Bundesregierung

This is an English translation. Please, find the original version in German above.

Open Letter by Exiled Journalists to German Government to Safeguard Independent Media

Dear Federal Chancellor,
Dear Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Dear Federal Minister of the Interior,
Dear Minister of State at the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media,
Dear Members of the Bundestag,

We address you as independent journalists in exile in Germany. Thanks to the support of the German Government and the solidarity of our German colleagues, many of us have found protection in Germany since 2022. Humanitarian visas, scholarships, emergency funds, grants for nonprofit media projects, and collaborations with German media organisations have enabled many of us to continue our work in newsrooms and investigative teams here.

Exiled media play a crucial role in the fight against disinformation. Coordinated manipulation, election interference, and the spread of conspiracy narratives now pose a growing societal and political danger, including in Germany. Authoritarian regimes such as Russia systematically deploy targeted disinformation campaigns to destabilise social cohesion and undermine political trust here as well. Media literacy and fact-based investigative journalism are the best means to counter this threat. Every day, we monitor manipulation on social media, carry out professional fact-checking, and investigate war crimes. We amplify the voices of our colleagues silenced by political persecution in authoritarian states. Day by day, we expose human rights violations, corruption, and sanctions evasion. Through cooperation, we highlight for the German public both injustices and crimes, as well as broader social developments. In times of multiple ongoing conflicts and genocides, it is extremely important to build international and interregional solidarities, to provide access to the grounded information, and to support our colleagues from Palestine, Ukraine, Sudan and diasporas.

Yet we are facing a global media crisis that hits us particularly hard. Independent media are under pressure worldwide. Above all, in authoritarian states such as Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Russia, and Iran, media representatives face existential threats. Even before fleeing or relocating, it was increasingly difficult to sustain viable business models amid war, censorship, and repression. Exile has brought a fundamental break: cut off from advertising revenue and reader donations, we now provide nonprofit journalism and depend entirely on grant funding.

Without stable financing, legal protection, and digital security, many independent journalists and exiled media outlets will collapse.

Without targeted support, the last free voices from war zones and authoritarian regimes will fall silent in the fight against disinformation. To prevent the silent disappearance of independent journalists in the current media crisis, we call for existing programmes to be continued and expanded.

We therefore ask the German Federal Government and Parliament:

1. To mitigate the consequences of the current media crisis through targeted funding:

• Expand support for independent media in crisis regions and revive institutional funding for exiled media through programmes of the Federal Foreign Office and the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media;
• Expand collaborations, internships, and exchanges with German media organisations by increasing funding for the Foreign Office programme “Cooperation with Civil Society in the Countries of the Eastern Partnership and Russia.”

2. To effectively counter disinformation campaigns:

• Strengthen media literacy in Germany, including through multilingual offerings for migrants;
• Promote cross-border social media monitoring and investigative research.

3. To keep Germany as a refuge for journalists at risk from repressive states:

• Reintroduce a simplified procedure for humanitarian visas;
• Extend protection programmes to journalists from additional crisis regions and authoritarian regimes.

4. To defend press freedom and media pluralism at the international level:

• Use all diplomatic means to protect media plurality, counter repression of journalists, and advocate for the release of political prisoners;
• Strengthen protection against attacks, transnational repression, and surveillance.

5. To protect media pluralism against Big Tech monopolies:

• Regulate digital media corporations more effectively to curb disinformation and the dominance of global platforms, and prevent algorithmic discrimination against exiled media;
• Promote dialogue and cooperation between the state and media with international platforms such as Google, Meta, Telegram, and TikTok.

Germany has been and remains one of the most important refuges for journalists at risk. We therefore urge you: make this position a clear political commitment and take concrete measures to support persecuted voices from authoritarian states. They are vital allies in the fight against disinformation and propaganda. Germany can play a leading role in this struggle and in the defense of press freedom – both domestically and internationally.

We hope we have been able to convey the urgency of this task. We remain at your disposal for further information and consultation at any time.

Yours sincerely,
Signatories*

Abdul Razzaq Al-Sabeeh
Journalist, Syria 360 — Syria

Mohammed Al-Mathyab
Journalist — Syria

Sayed Hassan Alemi
Editor-in-Chief, Rah-e Nejat — Afghanistan

Roman Anin
Founder, IStories — Russia

Armen Aramyan
Founding Editor, DOXA — Russia

Luis Assardo
Journalist — Guatemala

Roman Badanin
Editor-in-Chief, Proekt — Russia

Andrey Borzenko
Editor-in-Chief, Libo/Libo — Russia

Angelina Davydova
Journalist — Russia

Roman Dobrokhotov
Editor-in-Chief, The Insider — Russia

Dima Elagin
Film critic, Deutsche Welle — Russia

Ilona Elyashevich
Manager, Zerkalo — Belarus

Ekaterina Fomina
Correspondent, TV Rain — Russia

Maksim Glikin
Editor-in-Chief, Mozhem Obyasnit — Russia

Parvana Gurbanova
Journalist, Toplum TV — Azerbaijan

Maiia Guseva
Data journalist — Russia

Matt Kasper
Director, Meydan TV & NEMO Network — Azerbaijan

Valeria Kirsanova
Journalist, TV Rain — Russia

Nikita Kondratyev
Journalist, IStories — Russia

Maksim Kurnikov
Editor-in-Chief, Echo — Russia

Ilya Kuzniatsou
Freelance TV Producer, ARD — Belarus

Kseniya Lutskina
Journalist, Belarusian Assosiation of Journalists — Belarus

Ivan Makridin
Journalist, Co-founder, Novaya Vkladka — Russia

Orkhan Mammad
Editor-in-Chief, Meydan TV — Azerbaijan

Alesia Marokhovskaia
Editor-in-Chief, Istories — Russia

Vasilii Matenov
CEO, Asians of Russia — Russia

Kirill Martynov
Editor-in-Chief, Novaya Gazeta Europe — Russia

Ekaterina Martynova
Publisher, DOXA — Russia

Artem Melnik
Journalist — Russia

Аnastasia Mikhaylova
Head of the Video Department, The Insider — Russia

Awil Mohamud
Journalist — Somalia

Liliia Mongush
COO, Asians of Russia — Russia

Vladimir Motorin
Managing Editor, Agentstvo — Russia

Afgan Mukhtarli
Journalist — Azerbaijan

Leyla Mustafayeva
Editor-in-Chief, Qazetci — Azerbaijan

Alena Ramanava
Journalist, Novaya Gazeta — Belarus

Nasim Roshanaei
Editor-in-Chief, Zamaneh Media — Iran

Gawhar Shahwali
Journalist, Pact Radio, ZwanGhagRadio — Afghanistan

Karen Shainian
Founder, queer media Just Got Lucky — Russia

Filipp Smirnov
Product Manager, Russian Independent Media Archive (RIMA) — Russia

Lola Tagaeva
Founder and Publisher, Verstka — Russia

Dmitrii Taralov
CEO, Chronicles.Media — Russia

Woldegiorgis GHiwot Teklay
Founder, Yabele Media — Ethiopia

Lilia Yuldasheva
Editor, Beda.media — Russia

*The signatories of this open letter are foreign media professionals who live in exile in Germany or actively cooperate with German media organizations – including the Journalists in Need Network (jinn). To support this appeal and sign the open letter, please send us an email at letter@jinn-media.org with your full name, profession, media organization, and country of origin. We are also happy to respond to any further inquiries.