Journalism

The Open Society Foundations recognize that independent journalism serves as a check on abuses of power and corruption, and fuels and informs public debates and critical thinking in societies.

$23.6M 2020 expenditures for Journalism

2.4% Percentage of global expenditures

-3.9% Average annual change in expenditures since 2016

2020 Journalism Expenditures by Region

Explore our full expenditures by theme and region

Our Work

We work with partners and grantees across the world to support and advance freedom of expression so journalism flourishes and media outlets can provide quality information that affects people’s lives in a fundamental way.

We support independent journalism that seeks to innovate and remain relevant, effective, and sustainable in a rapidly changing environment where information is abundant, but attention and meaningful engagement are scarce.

A crowd of people gather outdoors, around a large replica of a radio. — Journalists in Kathmandu, Nepal, assemble in front of a replica of a radio in protest against an attack on a reporter on June 15, 2011. © Navesh Chitrakar/Newscom

Defending Media Freedom

A crowd of people assemble outdoors, in the cold. — People gather in the street and chant slogans during the 11th anniversary of the assassination of journalist Hrant Dink in Istanbul, Turkey, on January 19, 2018. © Chris McGrath/Getty

Our Program on Independent Journalism supports both global freedom of expression organizations, such as the Committee to Protect Journalists, Reporters Without Borders, and IFEX, as well as several regional and national press freedom organizations.

Supporting Investigative Reporting

Two men in an office talk; one is standing, the other is sitting. — The director of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists talks with a reporter from the French newspaper Le Monde in Washington, D.C., on January 22, 2015. © Melissa Golden/Redux

We also support independent investigative reporting outlets as well as international networks of investigative journalists, such as the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, which produced the famous Panama and Paradise Papers, and Freedom Voices, which seeks to investigate assassinations of journalists and tell the stories they could not tell.

Multiple television and radio microphones, belonging to multiple Afghan media entities, are assembled together. — Microphones with the insignias of various Afghan media outlets are clustered together in Kabul, Afghanistan, on April 8, 2014. © Bryan Denton/The New York Times/Redux

Independent Media

Our regional and national foundations in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East also support innovative and courageous independent media.

Diverse Voices

Our Human Rights Initiative, Roma Initiatives Office, and Women’s Rights Program support media outlets that give a voice to groups who find themselves ignored or excluded by mainstream national media outlets.

A woman with a video camera sits behind a camera which is filming a man who is being interviewed while he sits on his couch. — A video journalist from Democratic Voice of Burma interviews a former political prisoner in Yangon, Myanmar, on December 14, 2012. © Ed Kashi/VII for the Open Society Foundations

explainer

How COVID-19 Threatens Independent Journalism

A journalist works in a community space during the COVID-19 lockdown in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, on April 28, 2020.

While the pandemic has made the necessity of reliable journalism clear, it has also placed the industry in an unprecedentedly vulnerable position.

July 2020

Truth Matters

A Hopeful Story About a Sad Little Fact

Do facts matter in a world where powerful people lie with regularity? A new animated short takes a look at this fundamental question from an unexpected angle.

December 4, 2019 | Sarah Margon

Newsroom Innovation

Q&A: What We Can Learn from Journalists in Latin America

Journalists the world over are under increasing economic and political pressure. Here's what innovators in Latin America are doing to keep working—and to continue holding power accountable.

September 11, 2019

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