International journalism is facing serious challenges. Global newsrooms have lost millions in annual funding, while potential travel bans threaten journalists' mobility. Legal risks are increasing, forcing many into self-censorship, and reporters continue to face harassment, violence and pressure from authoritarian regimes.
Despite these difficulties, journalists remain resilient. A group of panelists at the 26th International Symposium on Online Journalism (ISOJ) shared the importance of adapting to these challenges and continuing their work.
The March 27 panel at ISOJ in Austin, Texas, chaired by Dawn Garcia, director of the JSK Journalism Fellowship at Stanford University, brought together five reporters to discuss their strategies for reporting under pressure.
“You either stay in the country and work for propaganda, or you can decide to tell the truth to the people, but it leads you immediately to prison,” said JSK Journalism Fellow Mikhail Rubin, who is also deputy editor in chief of Proekt, a Russian site operating from exile. He explained that in Russia, the government uses legal tactics to silence independent reporters, often sending warnings before taking action. For many, exile is the only option.
Over the past 25 years, President Vladimir Putin has systematically dismantled independent media, making it easier to control the national narrative. The war in Ukraine accelerated this process, allowing the Kremlin to eliminate the opposition, nongovernmental organizations and critical journalists.
By 2022, only a few small independent outlets remained. Many journalists turned to YouTube to reach audiences despite the government restrictions, Rubin said. However, Google's decision to cut off monetization for Russian media, followed by the Russian government blocking YouTube, further limited their reach.
Rubin mentioned that for exiled Russian journalists, survival remains difficult. Legal risks, financial struggles, and relentless government pressure have forced many outlets to shut down.
Dieu-Nalio Chery, a freelance photojournalist from Haiti, acknowledged that in 2022, Haiti marked one of its deadliest years for journalists, with nine professionals killed, according to UNESCO. Meanwhile, over 50 journalists have lost their lives in the country since 2000.
Chery shared how his journey of joining the international media scene began back in 2010 when a 7.5 magnitude earthquake struck his country, leading him to cover many significant stories for the Associated Press and to continue to fight for accountability and truth.
The photojournalist has been in exile since September 2019, after he was shot while covering a parliamentary session.
“Despite the chaos, my instinct to capture the moment kept me focused,” Chery said. “The bullet came through my camera, and I thought, I can't do anything, so I kept shooting.”
Instead of worrying about his injury, Chery was more concerned about the photos he had taken. He asked the doctor to let him leave and promised to come back for treatment later.
After returning home, he hugged his wife, grabbed his laptop and sent the photos to his editor.
The response came quickly: “You got shot and still got the right picture,” his editor said.
Soon after that, he became a target of a gang, as he had captured pictures that were dangerous for their organization.
“In that moment, fear started to set in, my blood pressure went up, and I couldn't even discuss that with my wife, because we had never discussed leaving the country,” he said.
The threat led to a push to leave Haiti with the support of AP and organizations including Fokal and Open Society Foundations.
He then received a visa and a full scholarship to study at the CUNY Craig Mark Graduate School of Journalism in New York while continuing his work as a freelance photojournalist, focusing on a significant project about the Haitian diaspora. He has published two chapters, one in The Washington Post and another in The New York Times. He is currently a Knight-Wallace Fellow at the University of Michigan.
Gregory Gondwe, from Malawi, is managing and editorial director of the Platform for Investigative Journalism and JSK Journalism Fellow. He shared many issues surrounding Malawi, focusing most on political influence.
He said journalists, particularly those involved in investigative reporting, face frequent harassment, including arrests, intimidation and threats. Law enforcement creates an environment of fear for reporters, he said.
“In 30 years of the dictatorship, we have had no media, basically we only have one photo allowed daily and one weekly,” Gondwe said. “Only one radio station, while television was not allowed.”
According to Gondwe, the 2016 Electronic Transactions and Cyber Security Act has been used to suppress investigative journalism, while digital platforms contribute to the spread of misinformation, further damaging journalistic credibility. He mentioned that existing laws sometimes restrict press freedom, complicating efforts to report openly.
“I was arrested for investigating and publishing an alleged corruption which authorities call a crime of spamming, and it's the same law that the corporate and the politicians are still using,” he said.
Media outlets in Malawi face many economic vulnerabilities. As Gondwe mentioned, operating with limited budgets, many are heavily influenced by government and corporate advertisers. These economic pressures often result in self-censorship, as outlets prioritize financial survival over editorial independence.
“The biggest advertisers for profit-making media in Malawi are the government,” Gondwe said.
Journalists in the country navigate a complex landscape of political interference, legal obstacles and economic pressures. Despite these challenges, many continue to risk their safety to expose corruption and inform the public.
Luz Mely Reyes, co-founder and director of Venezuelan site Efecto Cocuyo and ICFJ Knight Fellow, said Venezuelan leadership has created authoritarianism, censorship and economic instability. The government's refusal to engage with the press and its attacks on journalists have led to a significant exodus, with many journalists fleeing the country.
“The story can be very long, but the dismantling of democracy was slow and consistent,” Reyes said.
She described the current situation in Venezuela as a humanitarian emergency, especially for the media. She mentioned the government has effectively controlled news sources, leaving the public with limited access to reliable information.
“Journalists have created different media outlets and do the best that we can do, which is doing the best journalism in order to survive, in order to defend our freedom and the right of the people to have the right information,” she said.
Over the last two months, Reyes investigated the experiences of those who left the country between 2015 and 2023. She refers to the emotional toll of leaving one's homeland as "descielado," capturing the intense sense of longing.
“We always say in Venezuela that joy is an act of resistance,” she said, reminding journalists away from home about the key lessons learned from this period, including the importance of international solidarity, creating alliances and prioritizing collaboration over competition.
“When you don't have freedom, you don't have the space to compete,” said Reyes
Lina Chawaf, journalist and CEO of Radio Rozana from Syria, shared insights on the ongoing struggle for press freedom in Syria, a country under the brutal rule of Bashar al-Assad for over 54 years. Chawaf previously operated Arabesque 102.3 FM, a private radio station that aimed to produce critical content, including about violence against women, sexual harassment and taboos in Syrian society.
She faced constant threats from both the government and religious groups, which eventually led her to flee the country in 2011.
“I remember that religious people came to the radio and asked who this host is who's doing this show, talking about human rights and all these sensitive issues. They wanted to meet me, and they asked me to stop doing this, because I was destroying society,” Chawaf said.
After leaving Syria in 2011, she established Radio Rozana while in exile, training citizen journalists to practice independent reporting. From 2011 to 2021, the Syrian Journalists Association reported 1,546 media violations, including the killing and disappearance of journalists by various armed groups.
Chawaf described Syria as an "empire of silence," where speaking out against the regime was dangerous, and media were heavily suppressed.
Things shifted when Chawaf decided to take the challenge and enter Syria illegally between 2014 and 2016 to report from the opposition area and help create a local radio inside the country.
“I gave a training to the local journalists there. So this is a part of the campaign, and this is when I went into Syria to report from inside,” she said.
Despite the oppressive environment, Chawaf continued reporting from exile, noting that Syria's future remains uncertain as it is now controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an Islamist militant group, after the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024.
Chawaf concluded by expressing uncertainty about the future of press freedom in Syria. After 14 years of struggling for it, she reflected on the ongoing fight for freedom of expression and the press.
*Desiree Marquez is a bilingual journalism student at the University of Texas at Austin. Originally from the Juárez-El Paso border region, she has a passion for storytelling and is enthusiastic to contribute her skills in writing and communication on a variety of platforms.