Study: Media in the Global South are fighting for survival
The study was presented on Thursday, April 16, 2026, at the International Journalism Festival in Perugia, Italy.
Download the study below!
It is based on interviews with 76 experts from 66 countries, as well as on an online survey sent to all 224 member organizations of the Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD) and to partner organizations of the fourteen largest international media development organizations.
"The situation is serious," said Carsten von Nahmen, managing director of DW Akademie, commenting on the results of the study. "In large parts of the world, free media are waging a desperate defensive battle against state repression, censorship and threats, a lack of funding opportunities, and competition from digital platforms."
"We in Europe cannot be indifferent to this either. Autocrats are on the rise worldwide — and dictatorships, such as in Russia and China, are investing massively in the global struggle for narratives and interpretive sovereignty. Independent media are a basic prerequisite for democracy and development. They enable co-determination on the basis of established facts and thus make a decisive contribution to stability and security worldwide," added von Nahmen.
Key findings of the State of Media Development Report:
- International media funding continues to decline. The financial resources of the media development organizations surveyed fell by an average of 17 percent last year. Only 11 percent of the organizations surveyed state that they have sufficient funds.
- The respondents describe a domino effect that began in early 2025 with the dismantling of the US development agency USAID. Since then, private foundations have increasingly focused on supporting domestic rather than international media. The efforts of European donors were not enough to close the gap. Overall, according to the respondents, a lack of international support leads to independent media in the Global South becoming more vulnerable and more exposed to pressure from authoritarian regimes.
- As a result, many media organizations are struggling to survive. A large number of them only maintain their operations thanks to extraordinary personal commitment. Some have been forced to stop working completely. Exile editorial offices and media that report in minority languages and/or in rural areas seem to be most threatened by closure.
- The study results indicate that resource-intensive areas such as investigative journalism are becoming increasingly difficult to maintain in view of declining financial resources.
- What is most urgently needed is targeted core funding, flexibly deployable emergency funds and support in the development of sustainable business models.
- The respondents see state repression and the supremacy of the "Big Tech" corporations, which have disadvantaged journalistic content and the countries of the Global South as a whole, as further existential challenges. AI-driven innovations require a rapid and far-reaching realignment of media companies to achieve greater efficiency while ensuring journalistic quality.
Report launch at the International Journalism Festival
DW Akademie presented the "State of Media Development Report" on Thursday, April 16, 2026, 6:30 to 8:00 p.m., at the Hotel Brufani in Perugia.
As a sponsor of the largest journalism conference in Europe, DW Akademie was represented in Perugia this year with various offerings. You can find more information about this under this link.
All festival sessions, unless otherwise noted in the program, were broadcast live and can be streamed via the festival website or YouTube channel.
About DW Akademie
DW Akademie is Deutsche Welle's center for international media development, journalistic education and training, and knowledge transfer. With its projects, it strengthens the human right to freedom of expression and unhindered access to information. DW Akademie empowers people around the world to make free decisions based on reliable facts and constructive dialogue.
DW Akademie is a strategic partner of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. It also receives funds from the Federal Foreign Office and the European Union, and is active in 60 developing and emerging countries.
Interview requests and press contact:
Julia van Leuven
DW Corporate Communications
julia.van-leuven@dw.com
