Jinn evolves from a rapid-response initiative supporting at-risk journalists after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Today, it runs the Exile Media Hub Berlin, conducts research on journalism's funding crisis, and facilitates projects countering disinformation.
Founded three years ago in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the unprecedented repression of independent journalism in Russia, jinn began as a rapid-response initiative to support media workers at risk and consulting exiled newsrooms. Over the past year, we critically reviewed our early capacity-building programmes and partnership projects and completed an important transition phase. We are grateful to our advisors and partners, in particular Coopera e.V., with whom we co-hosted the first Hub project in 2023–2024 and collaborated on multiple support programmes for media in exile and decolonial projects.
While the past year brought crisis, funding cuts, and loss for many media organizations worldwide, it also opened space for reflection and change. Drawing on lessons from our intensive training and support programmes in 2023–2024, jinn has rethought internal structures, transformed its Hub platform for exiled media, expanded its network through new collaborations and events, and strengthened advocacy together with displaced journalists.
In 2025, as part of a new consortium, we moved the Exile Media Hub Berlin to a new space, and intensified our work in consulting, advocacy, and the facilitation of collaborative projects countering foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI). Jinn also initiated a research project examining the implications of the ongoing funding crisis and broader global political transformations for independent journalism, and earlier this month published the first survey.
After two years of largely behind-the-scenes work, we redesigned our website and rolled out new communication channels. Subscribe to our newsletter to stay informed about major updates and announcements. In the coming weeks, we’ll share announcements on upcoming events in Berlin and new opportunities for newsrooms and freelance journalists. More to come soon!