The coverage of war and mass protests in Iran reveals something important about journalism today: in many countries, independent reporting no longer happens at home. It happens in exile.
Iran is currently under an information blackout. Internet shutdowns, communication disruptions and strict limits on the entry of foreign journalists make it extremely difficult to verify events in real time.
In these conditions, international coverage often focuses on military developments and regional geopolitics, while the consequences for people’s everyday lives inside the country remain largely out of view.
When journalism moves into exile
Iran is one of the most recent examples of this phenomenon, but it is far from the only one. In recent years it has become increasingly visible across multiple regions.
Some of Russia’s independent media have worked from abroad for nearly a decade, a shift that accelerated sharply after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Today more than 60 independent Russian media projects operate from 25 countries.
In Belarus, the crackdown that followed the 2020 presidential election forced roughly 400 journalists and media workers to leave the country.
In Latin America, a similar pattern has been visible since around 2018. In Venezuela and several other countries, pressure on the media and tighter state control have driven more than 900 journalists into exile.
In Syria, journalism produced from abroad has been one of the main ways independent reporting has survived since 2011. Although some journalists have attempted to return following the political changes of 2024, damaged infrastructure, security risks and political uncertainty continue to pose serious challenges.
Taken together, these examples suggest that exile journalism is no longer exceptional. Increasingly, it is how independent media continue operating in restricted or hostile information environments.
The practice itself is not entirely new. In the 19th century, parts of the revolutionary press were already produced abroad. What is new today is the scale.
Reporting from a distance
One of the biggest challenges facing journalists working in exile is verification.
Maintaining contact with sources inside the country can be dangerous for them. People may face interrogation, threats or pressure simply for speaking with a journalist. As a result, many choose to remain silent.
Iran’s recent internet restrictions have made this challenge particularly visible. Negar Mortazavi, a US-based Iranian journalist, says shutting down the internet serves two purposes: disrupting protest organisation and restricting the flow of information both inside Iran and beyond it.
“There’s no way they can stop coverage from reaching the media outside. Eventually it has to come out, but they can delay it,” she says.
Omid Rezaee, an Iranian journalist writing for the German newspaper Zeit, says that during internet shutdowns journalists often lose contact with their entire network of sources inside the country.
“I have a huge network all across the country, but the blackout means I have no access to any of them,” he explains.
Journalists covering Iran frequently face hacking attempts, online harassment and sometimes even physical threats. For Iranian journalists in particular, the work can also be emotionally demanding.
As a result, reporters are often forced to work with limited information, relying on open-source intelligence techniques (OSINT), satellite imagery, verification of material circulating on social media and other digital tools.
How journalists work in exile
Journalists working in exile often develop their own informal rules for safety and reporting.
They avoid ordinary phone communication and instead rely on encrypted channels. Discussions of sensitive topics are often kept to a minimum.
In some cases journalists lower their public profile or use pseudonyms to protect themselves and their sources.
Exile also changes the nature of the work itself. Rather than covering day-to-day local news, journalists often shift towards longer investigations or regional stories that can be reported from a distance.
What fills the information vacuum
When fact-based journalism is constrained, the information space quickly fills with other actors.
Propaganda and conspiracy narratives often spread faster than verified reporting. In such conditions, those with the loudest platforms or the greatest resources tend to gain the most influence rather than those working with facts.
During recent internet shutdowns in Iran, for example, videos and information from inside the country often surfaced only hours or even days later. In the meantime, social media was flooded with conflicting claims that were difficult to verify.
Building support systems
In recent years an international support infrastructure has begun to emerge for journalists working in exile. One example is the JX Fund (European Fund for Journalism in Exile), which supports media and journalists who have fled war zones or crisis regions so they can continue their work.
Other organisations, including Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and International Media Support (IMS), also offer funding, security guidance and professional resources for journalists forced to work outside their countries.
These initiatives are important. But they also point to a deeper reality: journalism is increasingly forced to operate outside its natural environment.
Exile journalism is far from ideal. Yet in many cases it has become the only way to report on what is happening inside closed societies.
And as long as those stories continue to be told, even from afar, independent journalism will endure.
