Voices In Exile

Supporting media outlets and journalists in exile

Facing up to repression, violence and conflict, increasing numbers of journalists have been forced to flee their country. Their role yet remains essential to inform their fellow citizens back home, diasporas and the international community. To support them, CFI and its partners Singa, the Maison des Journalistes and Reporters Without Borders, launched Voices in Exile, the first CFI project established exclusively in France to support journalists in exile.

Calendrier

June 2024 – March 2027

Budget global

€2.8 M

Democratic governance Gender equality Misinformation

Voices in Exile is a 3-year programme offering a 6-month support programme plus a 3-month follow-on programme to four “teams” of 18 journalists in exile in France. The team spirit helps to foster editorial collaborations and solidarity that can be useful as they strive to integrate in France. Incubation, social and administrative support, networking, accommodation, training, French language lessons, subsidies and grants are also available to journalists, to secure their situation, help them bounce back and move ahead in their career.

“It is a definite advantage for journalists exiled in France. Because when you move to in a foreign country as a journalist, you have to start everything from scratch again.”
Jean-Samuel Mentor,Haitian journalist

Incubation workshops and professional meetups

The first team arrived in early September 2024 and included journalists from Iran, Afghanistan, Syria, Egypt, Haiti, Belarus, Russia, Guinea and Tunisia. These journalists, both male and female, were selected based on their profile, and the editorial project they hoped to develop whether for the French— thus contributing to media pluralism for international subjects— or for people in their home country. The journalists benefitted from an incubation programme featuring ten workshops and professional meetups, in particular at the European Agora for Journalism in Brussels, the Paris Podcast Festival and the Paris OSINT festival in December 2024.

Voices in Exile was officially launched on 20 September 2024 at the Gaîté Lyrique theatre in Paris, which event was attended by Emmanuel Lebrun-Damiens, Director for Cultural, Educational, Scientific and Academic Diplomacy at the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Marie-Christine Saragosse, Managing Director of France Médias Monde, Thierry Vallat, Chair and Managing Director of CFI, Benoit Hamon, Managing Director of SINGA Global, Darline Cothière, Director of the Maison des Journalistes and Antoine Bernard, Advocacy and Assistance Director for Reporters Without Borders.

Highlights of the Launch of the Voices in Exile project à Paris

“Journalists in exile need support as a show of solidarity, but also because they have extraordinary skills. This journalism initiative is an antidote for disinformation, propaganda and interference from malevolent foreign countries.”
Antoine Bernard, Advocacy and Assistance Director for Reporters Without Borders

A project