Part of advocating for the exiled media landscape consists of explaining —in different spaces and platforms— what is the nature, peculiarities, and challenges of news organizations that have been forced to operate outside of their home countries. The Network of Exiled Media Outlets (NEMO) sees this effort as a means for audiences, donors, and supporters of press freedom to better understand these circumstances.
Sudeshna Chanda —business development manager at Zamaneh Media, an exiled media outlet based in the Netherlands, and a member of NEMO— gave an interview about the topic to InOldNews, a digital video training company from India. The conversation took place in Chang Mai (Thailand), at Splice Beta, a media startup festival focused on Asian creators.
Rohit Upadhyay, independent journalist, and YouTuber asked Sudeshna key questions to explain why exiled media organizations need more support than ever before. Considering that there’s not a comprehensive report on the ecosystem and that the ecosystem itself is fragmented, and faces limitations of all kinds, there’s a lot to be done for exiled media, Sudeshna argues:
“One of the greatest gaps in the exiled media space is that we don’t even know how many exiled media (organizations) are out there (…) Only very recently, exiled media has come into the news and we are talking more and more about it, trying to understand the space better. So, doing a more comprehensive report on exiled media and expediting the process, will help everybody know who to reach out to, who needs help, and where can we be of support. That would be very helpful,” she proposes.
The answers that you’ll read in this interview have been transcribed and edited for clarity. You can also visit the original article here, and the video of the conversation, here.
Rohit Upadhyay:
What is exiled media and how does it differ from other forms of media?
Sudeshna Chanda:
Exiled media organizations are news outlets that are either established outside of their home country —which is where their target audience is— or have to flee their home countries because of government oppression, censorship, etcetera. Traditional media outlets, on the other hand, are based in the country that they are covering.
Rohit Upadhyay:
What are some of the challenges faced by exiled media organizations?
Sudeshna Chanda:
Specifically related to funding, one of the main challenges is being separated from audiences in geography. And often, audiences are also in a situation where they can’t support exiled media very directly, be it because of censorship or state repression.
Exiled media can’t rely as much on reader revenue, which then ends up with these organizations depending a lot on donor funding and grants. This financial help is great, they have helped sustain a lot of exiled media outlets, but the issue with that is that grants are often region-specific.
If you are, say, in Europe, a grantmaker from Europe would want you to cover European audiences. But when you are an exiled media, you are based in a country where your audience isn’t. If you are in Europe, your audience is elsewhere. Finding a grant that is made (for organizations) outside of the home country but caters to the home country is often a challenge. So there’s that regional aspect to it.
There’s also a lot of dependency on grantmakers, which I wouldn’t say impacts independence because most of the exiled media that I’ve spoken to —including the one that I work for— are very strict about differentiating their editorial work from their relationship with donors.
We are often very clear in our communication with the donors that we do the editorial work that we do. There is no compromising on the topics that we cover and, as long as the donor is okay with that, only then do we apply for those grants. Often, we try to find a match between our editorial (criteria) and grants that cover those editorial topics.
Rohit Upadhyay:
What kind of additional support does exiled media need?
Sudeshna Chanda:
When it comes to revenue diversification, a lot of the resources available are crafted for traditional media outlets. However, as I mentioned, there are several geographical and resource limitations in the case of exiled media outlets. We are often smaller teams compared to traditional media. Therefore, one thing would be to create resources, be it studies, or guidelines, that do consider that.
On the other hand, the reporting you have to do when working with donors and grantmakers is often long. You have a lot of reports to write —a lot of quarterlys— and a lot of documents to submit. But then again, exiled media organizations are often really small. There are some, where the editor-in-chief is also the organization’s fundraiser, so you are asking an individual to wear too many hats. It would be a great help if grantmakers and donor organizations realized that there is a (human) resource limitation to exiled media and that it’s better to ease the requirements when creating grants for such organizations.
Also, we can’t talk about exiled media in the digital space and not address the tech community because a lot of us depend on social media, websites, and VPN providers to reach our audiences. To be fair, a lot is happening around Internet freedom, but the tech community needs to come together (in a more consistent way) to support exiled media. This can happen in many ways, for instance, by reducing the pricing of analytic tools and by providing digital security support, as well as digital health checkups, for exiled media and journalists.
Rohit Upadhyay:
How are exiled media organizations collaborating?
Sudeshna Chanda:
Many exiled media outlets are collaborating to do their investigations and conduct their reporting. Or when something happens say, in Karabakh (Azerbaijan), then Azerbaijani exiled media outlets can help media organizations from other countries with their reporting of the country.
Another example is that Zamaneh Media —which is the outlet that I work for— and four other exiled media outlets, recently launched the Network of Exiled Media Outlets (NEMO). One of our goals is to create a database of knowledge and provide a space where you can consolidate as much knowledge, support, expertise, and resources for exiled media as possible. This way, any exiled media outlet that needs help can visit our website and reach out to one of the members and get the help that they need.
Rohit Upadhyay:
What role does fundraising play in supporting exiled media?
Sudeshna Chanda:
It plays —or it can play— a substantial role. For most exiled media outlets, there is always a large diaspora (that consumes their content) and lives abroad. Being able to tap into that, by reaching out to them and saying that their donations help those who are still in the country, is a huge opportunity for exiled media and for keeping news available in places where they would otherwise not be available.
Do you have any questions about the work of the Network of Exiled Media Outlets (NEMO)? Reach out to us at info@exiled.media