Germany provides $3.4m funding aid for journalists working in crisis regions

Germany on Friday announced the provision  of financial support for journalists working in crisis regions around the world.

German government revealed on Friday that the Foreign Ministry will disburse the 2022 Hannah Arendt Initiative protection programme of €3.5 million ($3.4 million) to journalists promoting independent reporting in their countries of origin.

According to the German authorities, “The funds will thereby benefit media professionals who continue to promote independent reporting in their countries of origin through their work, initially 360 people abroad.”

The funders added that refugee journalists working in exile will also benefit from the programme that is jointly ran by the Foreign Ministry and Commissioner for Culture and the Media.

It was gathered that the funding programme is already running in a pilot phase in Germany and abroad, assisting journalists at risk in Afghanistan, Ukraine, Russia and Belarus.

The funders highlighted that the programme consists of emergency scholarships, training measures, regional scholarship programmes and exile journalism centres in third countries, and similar measures in Germany, according to the organisers.

It was said that Germany’s Commissioner for Culture and the Media has been funding the JX Fund, an aid programme, with about €4.2 million in 2022 and has helped over 500 media professionals since April.