Independent journalism around the world is suffering an unprecedented crisis to the point of extinction, according to a new report from leading media development groups.
We all knew things were bad, but the report Crisis in Journalism: The Impact of US Funding Cuts on Global Media issued on 26 June suggests the future of independent news is more perilous than ever.
At a time when the world has become a more dangerous place, when rumours, speculation, bias and conspiracy drive public conversations, and when the need for fact-based, ethical journalism has never been greater, journalism, particularly in the poorest regions of the world, is in a critical state.
The report, based on data from more than 50 countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East, was prepared by the leading media-development group Internews Europe (USA), with support from BBC Media Action (UK), and Free Press Unlimited (The Netherlands), and was paid for by the European Union.
It takes an in-depth look at the fallout from US President Donald Trump’s Executive Order this year to suspend foreign assistance, which led to a $150 million cut in annual support for journalism and news outlets.
It is a devastating blow to media in high-risk countries and under authoritarian controls say the authors.
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The report outlines how it is not just news media that have been hit by the cuts – media unions, training schools, legal services, and advocacy bodies, have also been severely affected. Media support groups have had to slash their own staff and withdraw support to vulnerable journalists including refugee and exiled journalists fleeing persecution in Russia and from other countries where press freedom is restricted.
As a result there is a possibility that co-ordinated legal attacks on dissident voices and actions to restrain legitimate journalism, including threats to the physical safety of journalists will go unchallenged.
But it’s not just the threat from the Trump White House that is putting independent journalism to the sword. Funding from American philanthropic organisations is also drying up and across the western world governments are rethinking their priorities for overseas aid.
According to the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, the Open Society Foundations, which has funded dozens of independent news organisations for many years, won't be funding them from now on.
There are fears that other American foundations will follow suit and redirect some of their funding to newsrooms inside the US or steer clear of paying for journalism altogether in order to shield cash for healthcare projects or scientific research.
More than ever, independent journalism is becoming the Cinderella sector of international assistance. Even governments which have a reputation for supporting independent media in the past are having second thoughts as they cut their foreign aid budgets to ramp up defence spending.
According to CNN, the biggest cuts in overseas aid budgets during 2025 and 2026 will be found in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and Canada.
Earlier this year the BBC in the UK announced 130 job losses and a £6 million cut in spending on its flagship World Service channel, another sign of how support for quality information to and from the south is under intense pressure.
Media in some of the poorest, most fragile places in the world are being hit hardest, including Ethiopia, Jordan, Afghanistan, and Democratic Republic of Congo. Smaller countries like Lesotho, Micronesia and Eswatini are set to lose around a half of their aid.
Pressure is mounting to find sources of funding to plug the multi-million gaps in cash support now appearing across the media landscape.
There are already a couple of major organisations doing terrific work in this area including the International Fund for Public Interest Media[1] and the Media Development Investment Fund[2]. Both of these organisations are coalitions of media donors who realise that working together is vital to ensure maximum impact of targeted support for journalism in crisis.
Their grant support and investment strategies keep an ethical flame alive in some of the darkest corners of world journalism.
The Fetisov Journalism Awards is itself looking at new and innovative ways of supporting media – that’s why our prizes provide substantial support for our winners, who often come from areas where media exist in twilight conditions of press freedom
The message that we need to work with other partners to support independent journalism also came through loud and clear in our consultations with winners and our expert group at this year’s award ceremony in April.
The FJA understands well that we need urgently to move beyond rhetoric to find practical forms of international solidarity that will keep endangered journalism alive. Our work in the coming year will focus on that objective.