One of the programmes presented at the 2024 EESC Connecting EU seminar dedicated to journalism was the Hannah Arendt Initiative. It is a network of civil society organisations supporting and protecting journalists who work under extreme pressure and are subject to censorship, harassment and persecution. A protection programme funded by the German Federal Government, the initiative offers all kinds of precious help to journalists worldwide – from Afghanistan and Sudan to Russia and Ukraine – be it in their home countries or in exile.

When critical voices are silenced, journalists imprisoned and whole media outlets shut down, the public no longer has access to independent information. Yet such information is essential to enable people to freely develop their opinions and for democracy to function.

Two years after the Hannah Arendt Initiative was launched by the German Federal Government, there is no less cause for concern – in fact, there is more. The latest World Press Freedom Index drawn up by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) shows that conditions for media professionals have worsened worldwide. There are currently more countries – 36 in total – in the bottom category (where the situation is classed as ‘very serious’) than there have been in over a decade. Journalists from a number of the countries in this category, including Russia, Afghanistan and Sudan, are supported by several projects run by the Hannah Arendt Initiative’s partner organisations.

Thanks to the Hannah Arendt Initiative – a protection programme which is funded by Germany’s Federal Foreign Office and Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media – media workers can receive many different kinds of help, either in their home country or in exile. Sometimes help is even possible where at first glance it seems impossible. For example, a project under the initiative supports female journalists in Afghanistan: they receive safety training, scholarships and native-language mentoring. A particularly large number of women in the media have lost their jobs since the Taliban took power in 2021, which means there are now hardly any women left working in radio or television. Since that time, the whole sector has contracted sharply.

Russian and Sudanese media professionals can benefit from the Hannah Arendt Initiative in neighbouring countries. Special centres have been set up to serve as contact points for exiled media workers, run or supported by partners of the initiative. The Exile Media Hubs and the Casa para el Periodismo Libre (a space for exiled journalists) in Central America are also safe spaces that offer psychological and legal advice. The hubs are also places that provide further training and are a starting point for networking among media professionals who are persecuted in their home countries for various reasons.

Rebuilding sustainable editorial structures in exile is another approach followed under the Hannah Arendt Initiative. This is about ensuring that people in the journalists’ totalitarian home countries continue to receive independent information.

Afghanistan, Russia and Sudan are not the only countries whose journalists receive support. The initiative’s scope is essentially worldwide, and it can respond flexibly to worsening security situations. At present, support is mainly being provided to media professionals from Belarus, Central America, Myanmar, North Africa and Ukraine. In this respect, Ukraine is a special case, as the aim of the project work there is to guarantee continued reporting in the ongoing war. This requires material and technical assistance, as well as specific training and insurance for frontline operations.

The following four civil society organisations are partners of the Hannah Arendt Initiative: DW Akademie, the European Fund for Journalism in Exile (JX-Fund), Media in Cooperation and Transition (MiCT), and the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF). The programme requires independence from state control as well as state neutrality. Funding is granted solely on the basis of unbiased criteria, by independent juries free of state influence.

For further information, go to https://hannah-arendt-initiative.de/hannah-arendt-initiative-english/ or write to info@hannah-arendt-initiative.de.

The Hannah Arendt Initiative is a network for the protection of journalists and media worldwide. It was set up in 2022 at the initiative of and with funding from Germany’s Federal Foreign Office and Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media.